


Deliverance

by smoresies



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Deidara is a literal baby, Fluff, Hidan is an annoying 5 year old, Humor, Itachi is a pure 4 year old angel, Kakuzu is essentially everyones dad, Obito tries his best, Other, Time Travel, repenting Obito, the akatsuki are good guys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-14 10:07:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 39,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13587816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smoresies/pseuds/smoresies
Summary: With a last act of goodwill, Madara Uchiha meets Obito in the veil between life or death. He chooses to help undo his wrongdoings by sending Obito back to before everything transpired.Now Obito is 13 years old again but for whatever reason he can't feel happy about seeing Rin again, knowing he caused so much pain to the members of the Akatsuki. How would they cope anyway? In an effort to repent for his sins, he decides he needs to help them. Waking up and finding all of the rings in his pocket is just the slight push he needs.Who can he trust to bring with him on the mission to get together the 10 most notorious criminals of his timeline, and can he change them all for the better?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I shouldn't start another story, I say as I write another story. #sorrynotsorry
> 
> In any case, this has been on my mind for a while and I'm excited to finally got to write it out. 
> 
> Some things may be inaccurate but I didn't want to have to study this time period for a week before I wrote this. Sorry. I hope it's enjoyable all the same.

Where am I?

Am I dead?

What is this place?

Obito walked around the blindingly bright white plain of nothingness. He'd travelled to other dimensions before, but this was unlike anything he'd ever seen. It was so incredibly vast.

"Hello?" His voice traveled and echoed somehow. He squinted his eyes and tried to find anything that would tell him what was going on. So far there was nothing of the sort for at least miles.

"Obito." He recognized that deep purr of a voice. He twirled around and Madara stood before him. Obito was curious to see that Madara was naked. Looking down, he noticed that he was as well.

"What's going on? Where are we?" He didn't even bother to yell at the elder Uchiha who for whatever reason, didn't look a day older than his prime. 

"This is an apology, Obito. I need you to heed my warnings." He said and Obito's eyes narrowed.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm giving you a second chance, do you understand that?" Madara's voice was grating and Obito clenched his teeth. He was incredibly irritated. What was even going on?

"No I don't! Care to enlighten me?" He snapped and Madara looked nearly delighted.

"You're already regressing into your old self." If Madara didn't get to the point, Obito was going to scream. "As I said before. This is an apology. Take it as you will. Understand that certain roads are tempting, but don't take them. Do not make the same mistake twice. Stay on the path of greatness, but unlike the way I showed you. This time around, however, you won't have to deal with me, nor will you have to deal with Zetzu. I have taken care of him already. All you need to do, is live."

"What do you mean?" Obito's heart felt like it was going to burst.

"Exactly what I said. Take care, Obito. Don't fall down the path of darkness again. In fact, I will make sure you remember this exact conversation. You will keep the memories of your past life, and you will keep the powers you now wield. However, you must train yourself, you won't be as strong."

"Wha-" 

Obito saw black.

***

"Obito!" Obito's eyes snapped open. What was going on? Rin? "Man you really can sleep, can't you?" She giggled. Obito sat up quickly nearly smacking his head into hers. He looked down at his hands and around his room. His heart was pounding. What the fuck was this? "Hey, Obito, are you alright?" Rin looked concerned. Obito stared at her and she felt strangely about it. Like he was looking at a ghost. "Uh, we're all waiting for you. You were really late and so I came to look for you. I didn't know you'd still be sleeping..." She trailed off and really paid attention to Obito's expression.

"You're not real." He shook his head. "You're dead." Rin's eyes widened at that. She was very much alive so had no idea what he was talking about. 

"Um... No, I'm not." She said with her brow furrowed. "Seriously, do I need to get Minato-Sensei?" Obito looked around the room and thought about something. He quickly stumbled off of the bed and ran into the bathroom. He slammed the door shut and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He touched his unmarred flesh. So this is what it was like to not be disfigured. He'd have to remember how great it was. 

In a flash, he had his Mangekyo Sharingan staring back at him. He stumbled backwards just seeing it. He quickly put his hands together and uttered a "release" to make sure he wasn't in some sort of weird genjutsu. 

It was real. Everything was real. Madara really did send him back in time. But how?

Obito blinked away the Sharingan and tried to put on his best farce. He had acted as Tobi for years, he was sure he could pass off as his old self, right?

He couldn't even remember being this age. How old was he? Twelve? Thirteen? Obito frowned and opened the door.

"Haha! Sorry Rin! I just had a super crazy dream is all! Woke up disoriented!" He apologized with a fake laugh. Rin seemed to accept that as a good enough answer.

"Well, silly, you fell asleep in your ninja clothes so you're all ready to go. Now come on! We're late!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him off.

As she dragged him through the village, he took the time to examine her. She was still the same beautiful young girl he remembered her to be. So sweet and caring. He knew he still loved her, but as he aged before, was this still the same kind of love? Obito pursed his lips in thought and realized that he had no idea how to be who he used to be. And he hoped Minato and Kakashi didn't pay enough attention to him before to realize.

Making it to the training grounds, Rin apologized for him and he just stared at Minato and Kakashi. It seemed like only 5 minutes ago he was fighting alongside of them to stave off Madara. They wouldn't know that though. They didn't know he tried to take over the world. They didn't know anything. 

"What have I told you about being late?" Kakashi scolded and Obito did his best sheepish smile. This was so much easier as Tobi. He had a mask then and only needed to manipulate his voice, not his entire body and face.

Tobi...

Obito couldn't really describe the sadness he had on thinking about being Tobi. It reminded him of the Akatsuki. Namely Deidara. 

Deidara. Wow, it's been a while since he thought about Deidara. Him and his long hair and his explosive personality. Pretending to be weak and let Deidara overpower him was probably the most fun he had in the Akatsuki. Somehow being with Deidara made him forget he was doing things as sinister as world domination. With Deidara, he was just a dumbass that couldn't do anything right. 

"Hey you okay, Obito?" Minato asked, concerned. Obito snapped out of his thoughts, he hadn't realized he zoned out thinking of Deidara. If Deidara knew that... well likely he'd just make fun of him as he always did. Obito smiled at the thought. "Seriously, Obito, are you ok?"

"What? Me? Yeah I'm fine!" He insisted. "Just thinking about an old friend is all."

"An old friend? You have friends?" Kakashi asked bluntly and Obito stared at him blankly. He refused to dignify that with a response. This probably surprised everyone.

Kisame was another one. Kisame had been the only member Obito entrusted the entire plan to. Kisame went out a respectable guy. He would be alive right now. He's alive and being ostracized right now. One of the greatest teammates he'd ever known and he was being stepped on as Obito stood there. 

"Obito." Minato said quietly. Obito jumped up, when had Minato walked in front of him. "Do you want to talk?" He asked and Obito smiled at him.

"Talk about what? I'm fine!" He insisted and gave a thumbs up. "What is our mission today, Sensei?" 

What if he told Minato? But what would he say? 

I'm from the future but I can't honestly warn you about anything because I'm actually the bad guy, sorry. But since I'm here, you can guarantee nothing bad will happen. Who's to say he would even believe me? What proof do I have- The Sharingan!

"Aaand we lost him again." Kakashi said with an irritated tone. "Obito, what the hell is on your mind?"

"Leave him alone." Rin said softly. "He had a bad dream."

"A bad dream, huh? You're acting this way because of a bad dream? Get over yourself, Obito." No matter what Obito did or said here, they would tell he wasn't the same. He's older now, less likely to rise to the bait of Kakashi mocking him. However, if he tried to fight Kakashi, he would win and no one would guess why. Obito had long been in Kakashi's shadow, if he had the upper hand, why not enjoy it?

"Really? You're not going to say anything to that? Must have been one hell of a dream." Minato said seriously. Kakashi's eyes narrowed at him. Obito stared back. It was strange to look at them and realize two of them would be dead within a year.

No. Not if he was there to help it. Everything would be fine. He was sure of it. He would protect Minato and Rin. They both would lead full lives. It was the least he could do for them. Especially Minato. Him and Kushina really did give him the parental affection he'd been starved off. Especially Kushina.

Obito couldn't help but feel immense guilt thinking about the red head. Kushina only helped him and he killed her. He couldn't think of that now. He had other things to worry about. Like how to act. Because what he was doing now was drawing a lot of attention to himself and he hated it. 

"We're just going to take today to train, there aren't any missions right now and with the war... We just need everyone to get in the best shape as we can. I know all of you are working hard, you've been great, but there's always room for improvement! And at lunchtime Kushina promised to come bring us something to eat." Minato said with a smile. 

Looking into Minato's kind blue eyes, Obito realized how much he missed them looking at him fondly. He'd be better this time.

***

During training, Obito realized he needed to get tinted goggles for the sole purpose of being able to use his Mangekyo Sharingan without anyone realizing what he was using. He wasn't sure how his power was transferred back too, but he was thankful for the head start. If he was going to do his best and make sure everyone was safe, he'd have to start somewhere.

Training was simple. Obito did his normal training routine as he did when he was younger, to the best of his memory. If anyone noticed he worked harder or anything, they hadn't made mention of it. Obito also realized at that point that he may have the powers from before, but he didn't have anywhere close to the muscle strength or the chakra reserves. Especially considering before he had white Zetzu cells and made it so he didn't get tired as often. This would be interesting. He had no idea how he would use the Mangekyo now but hoped he could without worry. Obito was also curious if he could use the wood style release or not. Technically it had been a power of his from before, but it was because of the white Zetzu that he was able to use it. He'd have to try when he trained later by himself. 

A few hours into training and Kushina showed up with a picnic basket. She was all smiles and hugged Rin and said how cute she was. When Kushina's eyes fell to Obito's, he froze. How could he look at her knowing what he did to her before? She was one of the people who believed in him. She looked after him and he repaid her kindness with removing the 9 tails from her and having her killed.

"Obito." She said with a playful scowl.

"Kushina." He responded, all too gently. He realized his mistake when her face softened considerably. 

"Are you ok?" She asked and walked over to him. He tensed up, hoping she didn't hug him. If there was something he didn't deserve it was Kushina's kindness. "Whoa, I'm not going to hurt you." She said and stopped in her place. She must have noticed the wince. 

"He's been acting strange all day." Kakashi said with a frown in his voice. Obito turned to him and stared. By this point, they'd been teammates for 3 years and still argued all the time. Could Obito change that? Should he?

With a look of frustration, Obito realized what he was doing. Sabotaging himself by trying to make sure everything stayed the same. But why would he want that anyway? The first time around it sucked. So what if he was better at things than he used to be? That could help him bond with Kakashi. They could be friends if Kakashi didn't feel like Obito wasn't pulling his weight.

"Actually... I'm not feeling well. I'm sorry, Minato-Sensei." He bowed to his sensei which surprised everyone. Not that Obito was disrespectful, at least on purpose. He just rarely showed respect like that. 

"It's fine... You can go on home." Minato said slowly, as if he were trying to figure out the problem.

"Thank you. Goodbye everyone. Good to see you, Kushina." He said and jumped off. Once he was a good distance away, he teleported himself home. He didn't want to be out in the village anymore.

"You said he's been like that all day?" Kushina asked and Kakashi nodded. "How peculiar."

"When I went to check on him this morning, he was surprised I was alive." Rin said softly. "Then he locked himself in the bathroom for a few minutes and came out and acted like everything was fine. Said he had a bad dream. Maybe it's still bothering him."

"A bad dream? Where you died? Then why didn't he feel better after seeing you?" Minato asked and Rin shrugged her shoulders. 

"I don't know but he looked scared when he saw me, like I was a ghost or something. Like he really believed I was dead and he couldn't believe he was seeing me."

"I think I'm going to check on him when we're done." Minato said and they collectively agreed and began to eat their lunch.

"Oh shoot, I should've given him something." Kushina sighed. "I hate that he lives all by himself."

***

Obito wandered around the Uchiha compound. There were so many people there. He remembered when the clan was slaughtered. What a rough time that was. Not that he overly cared. None of these people even knew his name. They didn't care about him...

As he walked he ran into a familiar face. The breath was sucked out of him for a second.

"Itachi!" The tiny face of Itachi looked up at him.

"Hello." He greeted and blinked with his huge black eyes. Oh, Itachi really was adorable, wasn't he? "Obito, right?" Obito couldn't help but grin. He had no idea Itachi knew who he was.

"Yeah! So Itachi, what are you up to?" He asked and Itachi smiled softly at him.

"I am looking for my dad. We were supposed to train today. I think he forgot." Obito blinked. He didn't realize Itachi was training at 4 years old. It made sense with how ridiculously strong the kid was. Obito thought for a second. Perhaps he could amend things with Itachi in his mind by training him himself.

"Oh, would you like me to help you? I wouldn't mind." Itachi brightened up.

"Wow, really?" Obito nodded. "Oh..." He suddenly looked slightly saddened. "I think he was going to teach me how to activate my Sharingan..." Why the hell did Itachi's dad try to do that with a 4-year-old? 

"Like this?" Obito couldn't help but show off which resulted in Itachi seeming more excited than ever.

"Wow! You have the Sharingan? That's so cool!" Obito let himself take the compliment. Heh, if Itachi knew who he was complimenting... Obito's smile faltered slightly and he put on a front before Itachi could notice. 

"Yeah, why don't we go practice. I'm sure I can figure something out for us to do." He said and Itachi grabbed his hand. Obito paused but looked down at the sweet child and smiled at him. He wondered how Itachi would act had he been given his memories back. 

Obito shook the thought from his head and decided to just live the life he was given a second chance in. He would be better this time. And he would help Itachi reach his full potential.

While they were sparring, Obito realized that he was the cause of several other's deaths. How would he make it up to them? They died for his beliefs. Without the Akatsuki, where would they all fall?

Obito's thoughts once again fell back to Kisame. He was such a good ninja with a great honor code, but he would never know that without the Akatsuki. It gave the Kiri nin a purpose and Obito was worried that without something to fight for, Kisame wouldn't reach his potential. And Kisame and Itachi... They were an unstoppable force. The only reason Sasuke could kill his brother was because he was dying already. And Kisame killed himself to get information back to Obito about the war. Neither of them deserved their fates. 

Watching Itachi train, he couldn't help but think about the friendship between Itachi and Kisame bloomed. They were in complete synch. Itachi didn't have that with anyone here. Not yet, at least. He wouldn't meet Shisui for another year. But a relationship with Kisame was different. Obito wished so strongly that he could give Itachi and Kisame each other but how would he even do that? Plus, Kisame was older than he was so how strange would it be giving a 14-year-old a 4-year-old to look after? Well, essentially how it was now, actually. 

"Wow! Obito did you see that?" Itachi said proudly and Obito grinned at him.

"Yeah! You did great!" He complimented and Itachi laughed happily and ran to get the kunai he threw at the target. "Try to keep the next round a bit higher. You almost hit the bullseye!"

"Okay!" Itachi looked very seriously at the target and flung his kunai. "I did it!"

"I saw! You are awesome!" 

A bit further away, Minato stood watching the two of them train. When did Obito start hanging around Itachi? Not that it was necessarily a bad thing. But seeing the Uchiha mentor the younger Uchiha was interesting. Obito never seemed to hang around the other members of his clan. He was essentially ostracized for no reason. Minato would have Kushina talk to Mikoto. They were quite good friends. Maybe Mikoto could look after Obito when they didn't have the chance. He'd send Kushina over tomorrow. 

The more Minato watched Obito interact with the younger child, the wider he smiled. He was certain if Kushina were there to witness it, she would tease Obito relentlessly. Who knew he would be so good with children? Minato hoped that Obito would eventually become a Jonin. He would flourish with a squad of his own. A bunch of younger children telling him how awesome he was. 

"Sensei." Minito was startled, he hadn't even sensed Kakashi drawing near. "Did you find him? Why are you standing here?" Kakashi's eyes trailed over and he saw Obito kneeling by the young Itachi instructing him how to do something. 

"But can you teach me the fireball jutsu? I can make a little one!" They heard Itachi say excitedly. "Watch! Fire-style! Fireball jutsu!" To say that he made a little one was a vast understatement. The size of the fireball was way bigger than the one Obito could produce at 5. 

"That was very good, but I'm afraid we don't have enough room for me to actually show off what I can do." Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"It sounds like he's fine. He's back to bragging." Kakashi said flatly. Minato held his hand up and watched Obito.

"Can you show me anyway?" Obito laughed.

"Alright, you're lucky I know a few water release jutsus. I wouldn't want to set the forest on fire or anything." Obito said just with a hint of cockiness. He loved that Itachi was so enamored with him. He never had anyone look up to him like that.

"Is it because of your Sharingan!?" Itachi asked excitedly.

"Yup!" 

"Obito doesn't have the Sharingan..." Kakashi said confused.

"Fire-style! Fireball jutsu!" The sheer force of the flames sent a gust of hot air rushing towards them. Not expecting it, they were knocked over. Obito was able to keep it contained enough to not set the trees on fire but the ball was much bigger than what they were used to seeing from him. 

"Wow! Obito-senpai, that was amazing!" Obito laughed at that. Senpai? Now someone was calling HIM Senpai? With a pang in his heart he frowned at the memory of Deidara. They honestly got pretty close, all things considered. Madara hadn't been happy to know that. Obito mourned Deidara's death for quite some time. Reviving him, however, was different. He could tell Deidara wasn't the same even though he was. Knowing Deidara would eventually die again after the jutsu was over was enough to have him keep his distance. Plus, without his orange mask, Deidara didn't know it was him. A part of Obito hoped Deidara would just know but he didn't and that was okay. 

"Thank you, Itachi! I'll help you get there, don't you worry!" Obito promised. He knew he wouldn't have to do much. Itachi was gifted alone. He was a genius. He honestly didn't need help, Obito just wanted to give it to him. He knew how much Itachi would dote on his younger brother, the only person to dote on him was Shisui. Obito wanted to take that place, he wanted someone to look up to him. 

He wondered if Deidara would. How old would Deidara be? He was Itachi's age, wasn't he? Younger, perhaps? How sad that he couldn't remember his own partner's age. He had a lot more to think about then. 

"We should go." Minato said to Kakashi quietly. "We won't learn anything by spying on him." Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Well, they just did learn something. What was he even talking about? He nodded anyway and followed his sensei, sending one last glance at his partner.

***

Obito walked Itachi home and listened to the younger one excitedly tell him about essentially anything that came to mind at the time. Obito listened with a smile and nodded at all the appropriate times. Eventually they made it to his house where Fugaku and Mikoto were standing on the porch.

"Itachi! There you are! Where were you?" His father scolded. Itachi frowned.

"You told me you would meet me at the training grounds." He said and looked to Obito. "Obito-senpai trained me today." Fugaku frowned deeply. Mikoto gave him a glare. Her ire off of Itachi and now on Fugaku.

"How did you forget you were training him today? You know how excited he gets when you train him." She scolded.

"It's fine mommy! Obito-senpai was awesome! He even has a Sharingan!" Itachi bragged for him and Obito chuckled.

"Really? You have a Sharingan? I had no idea." Mikoto said and smiled at him. "Great job, Obito."

"Thank you, ma'am." He said with a bow. "Well, I better get home. Goodbye Itachi. Great work today."

"Are you going to train me tomorrow?" Itachi asked with wide eyes.

"Itachi, he probably has other things he needs to do." His mother scolded and Itachi deflated slightly.

"Right, I'm sorry."

"Oh no, it's okay. I don't have anything I need to do tomorrow. I'd be more than happy to help." Obito wondered when he fell back into his pushover state but couldn't find it in himself to mind. 

"Are you sure? I don't want to impose..." What 4-year-old knew the word impose?

"Itachi, I will be more than happy to help you train tomorrow." Obito promised and Itachi grinned and looked at his parents. Mikoto sighed.

"Well alright, just let us know when you're leaving, honey." Itachi nodded quickly and turned to Obito.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" He hugged Obito's waist and ran inside before Obito got over the initial shock of being hugged. His eyebrows drew together. When was the last time he felt a hug?

***

Obito couldn't fall asleep. He would have the strangest dreams. Each of them reverted back to the Akatsuki. He always thought they were means to an end but... he felt as if he owed them. Each time he closed his eyes, he thought of Deidara's maniacal grin he got when he was blowing something up. Or the way Kisame would light up at the prospect of fighting. How Kakuzu would sit in the Akatsuki hideout and count his money after a bounty. Hidan's loud brash personality provoke literally everyone who was around... He hadn't been there much for Sasori, he'd only seen him from a distance really. He had virtually no attachment to Sasori. Plus, he couldn't help the odd jealousy that he was Deidara's partner first. 

"I wonder how they are right now." Obito mumbled. Would Hidan be cursing up a storm and swinging his scythe around, ranting about Jashin? Would Kakuzu be going on endless bounty missions with no stop, not having anyone around him? Would Kisame just feel alone? 

Obito was working hard to amend things with Itachi, but there were more people that needed his attention, he just didn't know what to do.

Eventually the endless thoughts that seemed to loop over and repeat themselves in his mind came to an end. He was lulled to sleep just remembering the Akatsuki and no once did he think of Rin.

And he didn't even find that strange.

***

His dreams were empty when he fell asleep, or at least he just didn't remember what they were about. He felt more drained now than he did on going to bed. 

He sat up and looked around his room. Everything was how he left it when he died. That was due to happen soon, he knew. Now he knew what to expect. He knew to keep Rin safe. He was stronger now.

Standing up, Obito went to the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. He wasn't supposed to meet his team today so he wanted to go to the village to find some sort of goggle glass that would shield his eyes. 

Once he was done, he grabbed his clothes and threw them in a laundry basket, hearing the sound of metal clank around. Odd, did he leave something in his pocket? Obito grabbed his pants and pat them down. His pocket was bulging. He emptied the contents onto his hand and once he realized what it was, he dropped it to the floor. The 10 Akatsuki rings clattered and spread across the floor haphazardly. Obito's eyes were wide with shock and slight fear. Where had they come from?

With a shaky hand, he leaned over to gather the rings back into his hand. He found his ring, Sasori's old ring. He slipped it on his finger and stared down at it. There was an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. As if he were punched. He felt terribly sad. 

Without a reason why, he dumped the rings into his kunai pouch and got dressed for the day. He wasn't hungry, he was used to not eating very much. He knew he should. He didn't have white Zetzu cells anymore. He just couldn't bring himself to do it.

Leaving the house, he slammed right into Itachi. Itachi fell back and Obito caught him quickly before he stumbled down the few steps that were there.

"Itachi! What are you doing here?" He asked and Itachi blushed and held out a plate.

"My mom made these for you as a thank you." He said and Obito glanced down and blinked at it.

"Thank you so much..." Obito took the plate in his hands. "I'll eat it later. I'm actually on my way to the village now."

"Oh..." Itachi looked put out.

"You can join me if you'd like." He offered and Itachi brightened at the thought of that. "Just let me put this down." He said and went inside. When he came back out, something just told him to give Itachi something in return. "I had something for you too." He said and dug into his pocket. He looked for the bright red ring with the kanji 'shu' on it. Once he found it he smiled and handed it over. "It's probably too big, but it goes on your right ring finger." Obito instructed.

"Wow! Thank you so much!" Itachi examined the ring while Obito closed and locked the front door again. 

"Come on, let's go." Itachi jogged up to Obito's side and continued to trace the kanji lettering on his ring. He glanced down to see that Obito also had a ring on his thumb. How cool! They had rings that went together like a set! 

Itachi held out his right ring finger and slid the cool metal onto his finger, noticing it would be too big for him even before he put it on. It was strange though, because the second he slid it on his finger, it was a perfect fit. 

"Huh, that's cool-" Itachi collapsed to the ground before Obito even knew he was falling. His head was pounding, he felt like his eyes were going to bleed.

"Itachi!" Obito knelt by Itachi's side and helped him up. The pain was throbbing. Nearly blinding, in fact. "Are you okay?"

"It hurts!" Itachi shook his head. He felt Obito's chakra become more familiar than it used to be. He remembered blue skin, black cloaks, red clouds, corpses... "What the hell?" Shishui was dying. Danzo made him kill his clan. Sasuke killed him.

Sasuke.

Itachi's gaze snapped up and he looked at the horrified expression on Obito's face. He sensed the chakra and knew he knew it but couldn't place it. The only person who had that chakra was...

"Madara." Itachi breathed and Obito's eyes widened as Itachi's eyes narrowed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Essentially all Itachi and Obito bonding with some stalker Kakashi thrown in to spice things up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **XioFMH** : It could've ended worse than I wrote it but I decided to save the angst for later. To get you guys nice and comfortable and then BAM angst. lol. thank you for your vote and we'll see what happens! Thank you!  
>  **Vivi** : Thank you! It's a lot harder to write than I thought it would be! lol. I hope you enjoy the chapter!  
>  **SweetAlphaChild** : Eyyyyy. We're like minded! Awsome! I am obsessed with TobiDei (Deidan is my OTP but I really do love TobiDei) I'm sure you'll be happy with a lot of moments in this chapter. I am so pumped for Obito to finally get Deidara and just give him everything he ever wanted. Jiraiya! There's a thought. Thank you! And we will get to see Obito training Rin soon enough!  
>  **InArduisFidelis** : Well no, my original plan was for him to tell Minato once Minato became the Hokage because then Minato could give him permission to do whatever he wanted but I'm not entirely sure of the idea. He isn't going to confide in anyone for a while (besides Itachi, obviously)  
>  **Raisa+Islam** : COULD DEIDARA AND HIDAN BE A PAIRING??? DO YOU KNOW ME??? I mean you probably don't but they're my OTP so probably at some point they'll be a pairing. Aww I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, Itachi's entire personality changes since he's four.   
> **Kuko** : Aww thank you sweetie. I love Obito too. He's so sweet. I'm super hype for Kisame eventually lol. Thank you honey!  
>  **WillHaveAnAccountSoon** : Thank you! And I got your comment on INU and haha if you don't name your account this you're going to have to tell me it's you!  
>  **Vishihan** : Lol "what do you mean this man who fought the first hokage and killed his village's elders cant come with us with this scary shark man. Wow. I can't believe this. I'm being so targeted right now." lmfao. Well, Obito won't ask help for a while so maybe he will talk to her!  
>  **FrozenMarquessa** : Oh don't worry, they're going to be glued at the hip from this point on lol. Thank you! I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Two:

"You aren't... you aren't Madara Uchiha. Where am I? Where's Sasuke?" Itachi looked like he was going to pass out. "Why am I so short? What's going on?" Obito bit his lip and grabbed Itachi's arm and dragged the smaller Uchiha back to his house and quickly unlocked the door. "What are you doing?" 

Obito closed the door behind him and rubbed his temples. He had no idea the ring would return Itachi's old memories. It would be a lot harder to make it up to Itachi if Itachi knew who he was. He took in a breath.

"You may not believe me, but I'll tell you anyway." Obito's eyes looked pained and that was the only reason Itachi stayed. He crossed his arms and looked at the older Uchiha and Obito sunk to the floor. "I saw Madara, the real one when I died... I guess this won't make sense from this point in the story. In a week, I'm due to go on a mission that's supposed to kill me. White Zetzu saves me and Madara uses me to do his bidding. I was too easily convinced because when he was going to let me go, I saw my teammate Kakashi kill the love of my life, Rin. I honestly can't remember everything that happened, but I was made to do everything he wanted me to do in order to bring him back to life after he died. After the fight in the 4th Shinobi war where I died, he met me in the veil and apologized for using me and told me he'd send me back in time and I woke up here. He told me not to make the same mistakes and him and Zetzu wouldn't be here this time around."

"So what the hell are you doing training me?" Itachi asked icily. "Are you trying to create another evil organization?" Obito frowned, had Itachi even been paying attention. He looked livid.

"You're not usually this testy." Obito noted out loud with a frown.

"I'm a child! I don't have emotional control yet!" Itachi snapped and Obito nodded, Itachi was still adorable, all things considered.

"Well, to answer your question, no. I don't want any of that. When I was growing up in the village I thought I was going to become Hokage. I did everything I could to achieve that goal. I now know I don't deserve the title but it bothered me knowing that I ruined all of your lives... Each member of the Akatsuki died for me and my goals and I feel awful. I trained you because I wanted to do something-anything to make it up to you somehow." Obito stood up quickly. "Do you have your Mangekyo still?" Itachi looked at him curiously but his eyes turned red and spun into the threatening shape of Itachi's old Mangekyo. "You do..." Obito's eyes widened. Not wanting to ruin his sight so early in his life, Itachi rid himself of the Mangekyo. He watched Obito's face brighten with excitement.

"What are you so happy about?"

"Itachi, we could end the war!" He said, nearly breathless. Itachi's eyebrows shot nearly to his hairline.

"What are you talking about?"

"If our powers are still the same, we can use them to our advantage. We can stop the war before it kills too many of the people! Oh man..." Obito was vibrating with excitement. "Kisame!" Itachi stiffened at the mention of his old partner. "Kisame is a kiri nin. If I could just get the ring to him, he's old enough that he should remember the war. He could- he could get the Samehada from the corrupt Fuguki. Or maybe Fuguki hasn't gone down that path yet, whichever it takes."

"Why?" Itachi's voice was hard, for whatever reason his eyes shone with unshed tears. "Are you going to use him?"

"Itachi." Obito's voice softened. "If Kisame has information especially on the Kirigakure side of the war, he could potentially stop their side of the war. Or-or even create an alliance with the leaf, anything! Then the war time could be cut in half!"

"How old am I?"

"Four..." Itachi frowned deeply.

"Kisame is only 14 then. Do you really think he's already a part of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?"

"Oh... well, you're his partner, did he mention anything?" Obito's eyes were completely innocent but the thought of talking about his partner still made Itachi sad. 

"Kisame and I shared a lot... But information about our previous lives before joining the Akatsuki was not one of them." The dull tone he spoke in made Obito's heart clench.

"Are you ok?"

"I want to see Kisame again-"

"-Well we can get him-"

"-but I can't." Itachi said looking Obito in the eyes. "I can't do it."

"Well... why not? You two liked each other enough, right?" Itachi scoffed at that. Of course they liked each other. Kisame was one of the only people he trusted. That was the problem.

"Kisame hates liars and I lied to him our entire partnership. He'll hate me if he finds out."

"So... don't tell him? You're the only person that would know that, Itachi. And me, obviously but I wouldn't say anything I swear!" The near begging on Obito's part was only hysterical because Itachi was 4 years old. 

"And lie to him more?"

"Itachi, you won't be lying to him. Just don't talk to him about the past... future? Whatever, it doesn't need to happen this time around."

"The only reason we bonded was because we were both traitors to our village, he found kinship in that and how will we bond now? I'm just a four-year-old, damn it!" 

"Itachi we'll figure this out. I have a mission in Kiri in 4 days, I'll give him the ring and see what happens from that point. Until then, I think we should train together. The only way both of us will get back to where we were before is if we train with someone strong. Your tiny body can't do the same things your 21-year-old body could do."

"I had a disease and I was nearly blind. I'll take the 4-year-old body." Itachi said dryly.

"Well, I was on my way to get new glass for my goggles so people won't see when I use my Mangekyo. Maybe you should get something similar?" Itachi frowned. Sure he could pull off getting the Sharingan so young, everyone thought he was a genius anyway. But having to explain the Mangekyo? No thanks. He nodded slowly.

"I don't know what we're doing or if I even trust you, but right now I'm in a world that I don't know, so I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt here. I'll kill you if anything happens to Sasuke." Obito smiled.

"Sasuke isn't born for another year, Itachi." Itachi's eyes widened and he frowned. 

"What if... What if he isn't born in this timeline?"

"Don't worry, we'll make sure your parents have enough alone time the entire month of October." Obito winked and Itachi made a face. "Now come on, let's go."

***

Itachi was incredibly embarrassed to be sporting goggles much like Obito's. He looked up with a pout at Obito and Obito giggled.

"Lookin' good, Itachi!" He complimented with a thumbs up. Itachi puffed his cheeks out. He looked like Obito was his idol and he wanted to become like him enough that he started to dress like him. "Now come on. I know where we can train where no one will bother us." Itachi nodded and they both ran off. 

Kakashi watched curiously as the two ran off and wondered what made Obito get that type of goggle glass. Like he was trying to hide his Sharingan? But why? Kakashi looked around and when he noticed no one was paying attention to him, he dashed off after the Uchiha.

***

Kakashi made sure his chakra wouldn't be sensed and he situated himself in a tree. For whatever reason, Itachi and Obito decided to fight on a river. This wouldn't have been strange except... Itachi's chakra control was flawless. Itachi was a genius, yes, but he hadn't realized how skilled he was if he was running on the water completely fine. 

"Okay, remember the fireball jutsu from yesterday? Let's see what you can do!" Itachi nodded and did his hand formations.

"Fire-style! Fireball jutsu!" The size of the jutsu was much larger than the day before and Kakashi couldn't stop the look of surprise on his face. He looked at Obito and wondered how Obito would react to that.

"You're getting there. Don't worry, we'll have you back in shape soon enough!"

"Shut up, Obito." Itachi's flat tone said.

"Hey~! That's senpai to you!"

"No thanks. You aren't Deidara." Obito's shoulders sagged at that. "Miss him?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Obito said stiffly. "Now let's get back to it."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. Who was Deidara? And how was Itachi so much stronger than he was yesterday?

***

Obito and Itachi sat in a café eating dango and drinking tea after their training. Obito never knew how much Itachi loved to eat dango. Just knowing that mentally Itachi was 21 years old was enough to stop Obito for chiding him for eating so much sweets. 

"I took Kisame here." Itachi said randomly. Obito's eyes widened at the admission. Itachi continued to eat his dango. "Back when we were collecting them for the organization. I brought him here and we ate dango. We sat in this booth." He said quietly and looked at the table with a frown.

"You're not doing very well at masking your emotions." Obito said with a smile. Itachi sighed.

"I have more emotions now than I had when I was 21. It's hard to control them." Itachi's eyebrows furrowed. "I'm very sad."

"Want to talk about it?" Obito asked and took a sip of his tea. Itachi shook his head. "Well why not?"

"One, we're in public, two I don't know if I trust you yet." Obito frowned at that but couldn't fault Itachi even slightly.

"Itachi, we were given a second chance at this. We can fix things. We can make the ninja world a place you'd be proud to raise Sasuke in." The sad feelings intensified when Itachi remembered he didn't have a brother yet. 

"If Madara isn't here... how do we know what stays the same on the timeline?" Obito shrugged. 

"I only know what I caused starting next year." Obito said, sighing. There he was feeling the immense guilt again. Next year, when he unleased the 9 tails and destroyed the village. Which eventually caused the coup in the Uchiha compound and ultimately killed his entire family. If that didn't happen, would the Uchiha still act the same? Could they somehow force the Uchiha to just not be arrogant and accept the village as their companions instead of something in their way?

"Let's go back." Itachi said and Obito nodded. They needed to talk more in private.

***

"What do we do with the timeline? How do you plan on stopping the war?" Obito smiled awkwardly.

"I know if we got some of the gang back together, along with our intel on how things work out in the end, we could probably stop the war in its tracks."

"But... What if they take the intel and shift it to their villages favor?"

"No one is loyal to their village."

"What about Kakuzu-"

"-Especially not Kakuzu." Itachi frowned.

"You didn't let me finish. Kakuzu is very greedy. What if he used it as means to an end and sold the information off? Sure we can maybe talk Kisame onto our side, Hidan is... what? A year older than me? Deidara is younger than me. He's basically useless. But we can still sway them, they're younger. But Kakuzu has to be like, what, 70?" Obito nodded. "So what makes you think he's just going to change his ways?" Obito honestly could say he thought of that but he hoped Kakuzu would've preferred companionship over money. That was probably asking too much though. 

"Hidan." Obito answered and Itachi was completely confused.

"They hated each other."

"Yes and no."

"You're not saying that they actually enjoyed each other's company are you?" Obito laughed.

"Not really. They were strange but I'm pretty sure that was the closest Kakuzu came to an actual relationship. He never had a relationship with other people, really. I think he liked Kisame well enough. And you, didn't you two used to hang out?" Itachi laughed at that.

"If by hang out, you mean we read books in the same room, then yeah. We hung out."

"Well at least he wasn't yelling at you." Obito said, frowning. "He yelled at me all the time."

"Yeah well Tobi was a dumbass. Everyone yelled at you."

"Kisame didn't." Obito said with a grin. "Kisame liked me."

"Kisame liked everyone but Hidan and Deidara." Obito's smile fell off his face. "What?"

"Nothing... I just realized how close I am to seeing Kisame again." Itachi felt his heart thump in his chest at that. 

"How do we even get them into the village?"

"We can't do anything right now. Kisame won't be able to come back with me, he'll have things to take care of where he is." Itachi looked irritated. "What?"

"So you're going to see Kisame and I'm stuck here." 

"Itachi, you're four! I can't bring you with me!" Itachi smiled.

"I can turn into crows." He offered.

"No. The last thing we need is your mom freaking out. You're four."

"We should take the Jonin exams." Itachi said randomly. Obito turned to him surprised.

"You want to take them already?" Itachi shrugged.

"Honestly I'd rather not even be a ninja but if I can at least be a Jonin then I could be sent out of the village. And-"

"Wait a minute. Hold that thought." Itachi closed his mouth. "Madara was controlling the Mist village... Then he had me put the Mizukage under a genjutsu... Itachi, I don't think the Mist village will even join the war at this point. If Madara isn't controlling anything-if he isn't even here, then what am I doing next week? Will I even be able to find Kisame?" 

"Well Kirigakure was fighting with Iwagakure." Itachi said. "Which means if you have a mission, it'll probably deal with the stone village." Obito's face warmed. "So you may get to find Deidara." 

"D-deidara? No..." Obito furrowed his brow again. "This won't be helpful at all. How am I going to do anything with Deidara? He's a child!"

"Actually I think he's an infant."

"Even worse!" Obito cried and ran his fingers through his hair. "Damn it! Itachi, you're right. We need to become Jonin. At least I do. If you can get promoted to at least a Chunin then perhaps they'll allow us to take on our own missions. We need to get to the mist village." Itachi nodded seriously and sighed.

"Well if we aren't being pressured by Kiri, then you may not even have a mission to go on in a few days. Will the war even progress? How will Iwa even start it with less forces on their side?"

"I don't know. But we need... We need Kakuzu." Obito said with a groan. "Damn it. I don't even know how to find him."

"If you get powerful enough to be added to the bingo books for a high bounty, then you just have to sit and wait." Itachi said dryly and Obito glared. 

"That'll take too long. Man! This is all so confusing! After this happens, we will have no idea what is going to happen! The one thing I thought was for sure and it's probably nothing. Why send me back a week before I'm supposed to die, if the mission doesn't even happen?"

"Because Madara is an asshole?" Itachi offered and Obito agreed with a hum. "Do you think we can really do anything to fix things?"

"I mean, even if we can't, we're already in a complete different timeline. Without Madara's influence, there's nothing about this that's the same anymore. The only thing is that we're all here."

"Do we give them their memories back? What's the point of it?"

"Have I told you about the time I sent Naruto and Sakura to a different dimension?" Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Well obviously not, I don't know why I asked. Anyway, I sent them somewhere and... The Akatsuki were the good guys. They were the guys you called to help. What if we could do that? Be a group of good guys anyone could count on?"

"You're being pretty idealistic. Especially with Hidan and Kakuzu on the team. And who's to say Deidara would even want to be a part of the group?" Obito sighed and nodded.

"I know but... we could try?" Itachi shrugged.

"There's nothing to lose, I guess."

"Okay, starting tomorrow we're going to train every day until we nearly run out of chakra." Itachi just stared at him.

"Well, I'm four so that shouldn't take too long." Obito smiled.

"That's the spirit!"

***

"Itachi honey, you look so sweet." His mother cooed and Itachi smiled at her and hugged her tightly. It had been too long since he'd seen her. A part of him felt as if he shouldn't be hugging her, he didn't deserve it. But he just forced himself to remember when he killed them, she told him he was doing the right thing. She understood and she loved him still. He hugged her tighter. "Are you ok, honey?" Itachi nodded and she hugged him back just as tight and held him there. He couldn't remember being hugged. It was foreign at this point. He liked it. 

"I love you." He said softly and she giggled.

"I love you too." She pulled him away and toyed with the goggles on his head with a smile. "Is Obito your idol now? You're dressing like him?" Itachi's face turned red and he looked away embarrassed. He knew this would happen. He didn't idolize Obito. It was the best thing to do in their situation. If his family found out that he had the Mangekyo, he would have more explaining to do than he cared to admit. "I'm only teasing you, honey." She laughed and kissed his cheek. "Come on honey. It's time for a bath." Itachi's face turned red. Bath time? His mom still gave him baths at this age? How embarrassing.

***

Minato had been keeping an eye on Obito from afar. When the team got together for training, he noticed Obito was training a lot differently than he normally did. And when they weren't training as a team, he was training with Itachi elsewhere. Kakashi tried to talk to Minato about what he saw, but Minato insisted Kakashi needed to give him space to do his own thing.

It did have Minato wonder why Obito didn't tell them outright he had the Sharingan. 

Obito was also back to wearing his goggles all the time only these ones were tinted. Minato didn't look past the fact that they overheard Obito had the Sharingan and suddenly he was wearing tinted goggles. Itachi was too when he trained, was this just hero-worship or did Itachi get his Sharingan too?

There were so many questions in Minato's mind and yet no answer seemed to be drawing any closer. 

With a sigh, Minato cursed all teenagers. It was hard to deal with them all because you couldn't just ask them something, they would skate around the truth. It was also strange how Kakashi honed into everything Obito did now. Almost obsessively, he would watch Obito train, mention things Obito did with Itachi... Ever since that day that Obito showed up looking worse for wear, Kakashi had been glued to his shadow.

"You still thinking about Obito?" Kushina asked, effectively rousing Minato from his thoughts. 

"Hm? Oh. Yeah, sorry. He's just been so strange lately." Kushina nodded.

"He doesn't seem to like being around me. Which doesn't sound like much but..." Her eyes softened. "He used to argue with me. I know he didn't do it because he didn't like me, but that was our relationship. Now... Now he barely looks at me." Minato frowned, he knew Obito was his wife's favorite of his team. She seemed to be taking his aloofness to heart.

"Why don't I talk to him?" Kushina looked at Minato and glared.

"What? Why? So he thinks I'm some girl who can't talk directly to the source?" Kushina scoffed and Minato smiled at her. "What?"

"You're just pretty." He said fondly and her irritated expression melted away and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Not as pretty as you." She teased and Minato frowned at her. One day she would tire from that, wouldn't she?

"Well, then talk to him tomorrow. We're all getting together to train. Let him know you're worried about him." Kushina sighed.

"Yeah well, that's the thing. I'm not exactly worried, I'm impressed. He's doing so well. He's better than before. It's just... He seems... Older."

"Older?"

"Yes, I can't explain it but he isn't the same Obito. He's more mature? Maybe not mature... but just... I can't explain it. He's different but the same. I'm sorry I'm not making much sense, am I?" Kushina said and Minato nodded slowly.

"No, I totally understand what you're saying. He's the same but he's different. I want to know when his reflexes got so good. Just last week he was tripping all over the training field. This week he hasn't fallen over once. I've checked to make sure it was actually him so many different times and it is him, it isn't someone pretending to be him but still, it's eerie." Kushina agreed.

***

"Just like I thought." Obito said with a deep sigh. Itachi glanced up at him and waved. 

"Good afternoon, Obito. What happened?"

"No mission. We're not going to Kiri. They aren't even on anyone's itinerary for the war." Itachi looked saddened by that. "Don't give up yet. If we can somehow get promoted without the official exams, maybe we can take a mission there ourselves." Itachi's shoulders slouched.

"I don't know how I'm going to be much good if we keep training like this. My body can barely move."

"Yeah I feel you there." Obito said and loosened up the muscles in his arms. "Hey, what if we found Kakuzu somehow. Then we can get him to do the walking around." 

"Great. How are we going to find Kakuzu of all people? In case you forgot, he's pretty impossible to find. Especially because we still can't just leave the village for no reason." Obito smiled awkwardly.

"Yeah, I guess I forgot that. But maybe we'll think of a way to find him. I wish I could talk to someone about where to find him. Or even send someone trustworthy to go find him. Or even have an address to send him mail." Obito said, frowning and Itachi raised his eyebrows.

"Could you imagine, just... sending Kakuzu some mail." Obito grinned.

"Yeah, like, _Hey Kakuzu. Put this on your finger. Did you do it? Ok cool. Hey it's Tobi. Please help me._ " Suddenly Itachi was laughing and he shook his head. "What?"

"I just remembered you were Tobi. How did you manage to do that? Especially with Deidara beating the hell out of you all the time." Obito smiled at the memory and shrugged.

"I dunno. It was fun, I guess. And weird, knowing that I could've hurt him if I wanted to. Sent him to a different dimension for punching me." There was a smile on his face but his gaze looked far away. Itachi wasn't sure where to go from there but he was feeling funny. Like the more time he spent as a 4-year-old, the more he started to feel like one. Emotional-wise. Was that why Obito was so different? Because he was acting like his 13-year-old self?

Itachi hated being the small. He hated being as weak as he was but he had to admit, he didn't hate his emotions. Having them stunted for so long, it was nice to feel them again. Plus, it was strange. With the bond he started to get with Obito, he realized he trusted him more than he wanted to. And that made him nervous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For people who read my other stories you know what I do at the end of a chapter. If your new, I ask usually 4 questions to help prompt people to comment so you don't have to think of something if you really don't know what to write. These are entirely optional.
> 
> 1) Okay!! With that Kiri plot thrown through a loop, who do you think will be the next Akatsuki member to get his ring?  
> 2) Let's ask the age old question, which ships would you like to see in the story if you were able to pick?  
> 3) Is there a non-akatsuki character you want to see more of?
> 
> That's all I got for this chapter. Thanks everyone! And thanks to all the Kudos and subscribes I got already! Y'all rock!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is literally nothing. Just means to further the plot.  
> And we get to see our boy Kuzu :)
> 
> I am blown away by the positive support this story is getting, thank you everyone so much!
> 
> On a side note, based on their ages, Sasori should be 17. HOWEVER, because I didn't want to write about baby Itachi, Hidan and sperm cell Deidara, I changed the ages to go better with the story. So Sasori is 15 in this story. It takes place before Sasori decided he wanted to be a puppet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **FrozenMarquessa** : Haha you were just that good with your timing I suppose. I hope you enjoy this chapter too. Thank you so much!  
>  **Vivi** : Imagine if they got Deidara first. Deidara would be so useless but so cute. I love him. Gai is a definite character in the story, just not right this second! There's a lot going on right now but don't worry, he'll be important later on~!  
>  **WillowstreamHP** : Uh, I can't really have them in this story I don't think they'll be old enough to date in this story (at least by the time the story ends. Maybe if I write a sequel?)  
>  **AlmaDescompuesta** : He'll be here eventually. I love my shark boi.  
>  **InArduisFidelis** :I know, right? I'll have to draw him with the goggles. They gotta look fly AF. There were more "Itachi, you're four" comments this chapter lol. (Obito will likely continue to say it when Itachi is like 17 tho)  
>  **sakaeamara** : Well ask and you shall receive, our daddy Kakuzu is in this chapter. Holla.  
>  **Raisa+Islam** : lol well I'm not sure. Probably about now. Kakuzu is in this chapter! He was needed or else the story would be at a complete stand still.  
>  **Kuko** : Yes, they will continue to get more complicated lol. Haha are you asking for a 5some? I can dig it. Although I'm not entirely sure about Sasori. I think... I'm not going to give it away but Sasori and Deidara may have a much different relationship in this story. Gai will be here eventually!  
>  **RelenaDuo** : Haha thank you. I love my smol Itachi. Don't worry, I have many ideas for the fic.  
>  **SweetAlphaChild** : Yeah Itachi is fun to write. And no he doesn't really trust Obito but Obito is all he has right now so he's kind of dealing with it. I'm unsure if Obito will ever actually admit to Kushina what he did because it wouldn't do anything. I'm excited for Kisame to come in but he won't be in yet. I'm not sure when he'll be here. I love essentially everyone with Deidara (besides Sasori for whatever reason lol)

Chapter Three:

"Obito!" Obito jolted from his bed to look at Itachi who seemed to be in his pajamas. "I just thought of something."

"What time is it..." Obito turned to face his clock. "You woke me up at two in the morning!? Do your parents know where you are?" 

"No. I know how to sneak out." Itachi nearly scoffed. "Anyway, I was thinking about what you said a few days ago and how you didn't know why we were sent back to this point but then it hit me. Sasori."

"What about him?" Obito asked with a frown, his thumb rubbed over the ring they shared. 

"Around this time is when he sealed himself inside a puppet. Madara didn't send you back in time to this point to save you. He did it to save Sasori." Obito blinked.

"How do you even remember that?" He asked and Itachi shrugged.

"I just... remembered it in a dream. Sasori was a puppet when we met. He was over 30 but his soul was sealed in a puppet because... I don't know, actually. I can't remember. Anyway, we have to get to him! I don't know how much time we have, if we leave now-"

"Whoa! Itachi! I can't take you out of the village! Especially in the middle of the night!" Itachi frowned.

"But why-"

"ITACHI. YOU ARE FOUR. YEARS. OLD." Itachi tilted his head back in frustration. "I can't just take you somewhere! I'd need parental consent AND more importantly!! The Hokage's consent! How am I going to get a mission in Sunagakure?" Itachi's black eyes bled into red and then swirled to his Mangekyo. "You... want to put the Hokage under a genjutsu... so we can sneak out and steal Sasori from Chiyo...?"

"Come on! She won't even miss him!" Itachi said and Obito frowned.

"Ouch. That's harsh." Itachi gave him a look. "I can't have you put the Hokage under a genjutsu. We're supposed to be the good guys—"

"They're the ones that made me kill everyone! They're not the good guys!" Itachi's eyes blazed.

"Well we're going to need a jonin in order to leave the village. At this point in the timeline it's mandatory. We're too close to the war."

"We can bring Kakashi-"

"No!"

"Why not? He's strong, and he's your teammate! You two already work together. Why not just ask him?" Obito pouted at that. He didn't want to have to ask Kakashi for any favors. 

"Is there a reason you want Kakashi?" Obito asked with a raised eyebrow and Itachi's cheeks turned pink. "Is there?!"

"Nothing like that!" Itachi swore. "He was my senpai when I was in ANBU-"

"-Oh so HIM you'll call senpai-"

"-don't even start with that-"

"-No, no it's fine! Who doesn't want Kakashi to be their senpai-"

"-You're being incredibly immature and I'm just trying to-"

"-everyone BOW DOWN to Kakashi-senpai! He's the greatest-"

"-would you STOP?!" Itachi shouted and Obito closed his mouth firmly with a glower. "Geez, I'm four and you're still more annoying than me." Obito glared at him. "Who else do we have that's a jonin?"

"I don't know!" Obito tossed himself to the bed with a groan. "It isn't fair."

"Can't you request vacation time or something-"

"-Oh yeah, right the smack dab center of a war. Hey Hokage, how about I cash in that vacation time and take a four-year-old with me to Sunagakure for absolutely no reason. Don't worry, we'll try to not get caught in the crossfire."

"You're being an impossible brat."

"And you're sounding like Kakuzu, but hey, we all have our faults." Obito said nonchalantly. "Now come on, let's talk about this in the morning. I'm exhausted." 

***

"Obito!" There was a knocking at his front door. He frowned and opened it. Kushina stood there in all of her glory and Obito wanted the floor to swallow him whole. 

"Hello, Kushina. How are you?" He said as politely as he could. She frowned at him and pushed her way into his apartment. He sighed, should've seen that coming.

"How are you doing, Obito?" She asked and sat down on his couch. He saw her eye the rings on the table with his paper he was trying to design seals with. "What is this?" She asked and picked up the paper and scanned it. 

"N-nothing!" She seemed mildly impressed.

"Wow, Obito. Reverse summoning. I wasn't aware you were a seal master." She teased and he pouted at her. "There's some markings that are wrong though." She pushed her eyebrows together and grabbed the writing implement and a new piece of paper. She wrote it down and he watched her fix his seal. He was grateful. "Now you want all of these markings?" She pointed to the rings and he nodded. She added the symbols from each ring and he wrote the one on Itachi's ring on the side so she added that to the proper spot too. "So you want to use these rings and be able to summon anyone who's wearing them based on the symbol of the ring?" Obito nodded. "Wow, that's some advanced stuff, kid."

"I'm not a kid!" He argued and then realized, yeah, he was a kid. She gave him a humored look and picked up one of the rings. 

"So how are you going to fit the seal on the rings?" She asked as she eyed them.

"I'll figure it out eventually." He said with a sigh. He'd need to take Itachi's ring from him to get that one done too. 

"So who are these rings for?" She asked and he opened his mouth to speak but then closed it. "You've been awfully secretive lately, Obito." She said and he nodded slowly. "Why?"

"Nothing, Kushina. I don't want to talk about it. It's a lot." He said and she nodded slowly.

"Well, I'm here for you, I hope you know that."

"Yeah. Thank you." He gave a wry smile that seemed to do everything but placate Kushina. She shook her head with a sigh.

"Anyway, I just came here to give you this." She handed him a bag. "Something to eat. You're looking a lot thinner lately. And I don't think it has anything to do with all the extra training you've been doing." Obito narrowed his gaze. "Everyone has noticed. You're not as secretive as you think you are." Well, that was because he wasn't trying to be. If him and Itachi wanted to train in complete secrecy, he would just teleport them elsewhere. "So eat something. I have to go. I'm babysitting today."

"Who's the unlucky child?" Obito asked, already eating what she brought over. It was true. He got so used to not eating he would forget to eat. That could hinder his chakra and training.

"Oh, just your buddy, Itachi." She said, smiling. "Mikoto needs to run some errands and she asked me to look after him." Obito jutted his lower lip out.

"Why didn't she ask me? I watch him every day."

"Maybe she wanted him to play and NOT train?" She offered and Obito snorted. Itachi would not be happy. "You can join me if you'll miss your mini-you so much."

"My mini-me?" Obito asked with wide eyes and Kushina giggled. 

"Yeah, that's what everyone is calling him. Getting goggles, he even dresses like you. It's the sweetest." She put her hand over her heart. "It's absolutely precious."

"Precious? ... Don't tell him that." Obito smirked. It would be hysterical if Itachi found out everyone thought he was aspiring to be a small Obito. "Actually, do it because I want to see his face." Obito jumped up and put shoes on. 

"You're coming with me?" She asked and he shrugged.

"Yeah sure, maybe for a bit. Hope it doesn't intimidate you that he'll definitely like me more than you." He teased and Kushina felt her mood perk considerably. She narrowed her eyes and smirked.

"Oh? You want to make that challenge?" She said and crossed her arms. "Deal, Obito. Prepare to lose. Let's go." Obito laughed and followed her out of the house.

***

To say Itachi was confused by all of the attention he was getting from not only Kushina but Obito too, would be an understatement. He had no idea why they were fighting for him right now but whatever. They were weird. If they wanted to keep bribing him, he wondered which one would remember his favorite food was dango. He could really use some dango. His parents didn't let him eat it very much.

Unfortunately, they were so immersed in arguing with each other, they walked right by the dango shop and Itachi gave a sad longing gaze to it but was pulled forward. He went to open his mouth when he felt a chill through his body. That... That chakra.

"Obito!" Itachi yelled and Obito whirled around to see Itachi's look of surprise on his face. "Can you feel that?" He asked looking into Obito's eyes. It took a few seconds but Obito started to shake.

"I-I can't believe it." His eyes were wide. "Shit!"

"Language!" 

"Kushina. Please. I need you to hurry. This is super important. You know those rings on my coffee table?" She nodded slowly. "Please, get the kita ring. That's the blue one. If you can possibly put that seal on it, please do it. Please, Kushina this is very important. Itachi, go with her, you'll be able to find me." Itachi nodded seriously and Obito ran off. Itachi grabbed Kushina's arm and they made a mad dash back to the Uchiha compound.

"What's going on?" Kushina asked, worried and Itachi looked back at her.

"Someone we know is here." He said cryptically and she was even more confused now. She decided to save her questions for after so she could focus on the rings. She then realized she didn't have a key to Obito's apartment. 

Itachi ran to the front door and pulled keys out from his kunai pouch so there was that. They ran inside and Itachi grabbed the blue ring and handed it to her. She bit her lip. It was such a small area to do this on but Obito needed it done. She went as quickly as she could, trying to steady her hands. Itachi read over the seal over her shoulder and his eyes widened in amazement. 

"He's doing a reverse summoning seal." Itachi whispered and Kushina looked over her shoulder and noticed Itachi had a ring on his right ring finger. That was interesting. 

"I hate to admit this, but Minato is better at this than I am." She said and brushed her hair out of her face as she focused on the ring harder. 

"I don't think Obito wants Minato to know about this." Itachi mumbled and Kushina grew worried. What exactly was he doing? "And here, can you do this one too." Itachi handed her the ring that Obito was wearing before. When did Itachi get it?

***

Obito felt emotions thrum through his body. What the hell were the odds that he was here in the village? Who even could be used as a bounty here?

It took a while for him to finally get caught up to find the man, but when he did, he couldn't help but grin. He wore dark gray and dark green. All he had to do was to follow after him until Itachi showed up with the ring. Hopefully he knew enough to knock Kushina out first because explaining to her why they were giving a ring to an S-rank criminal was going to be difficult. No one was ignorant to Kakuzu. The man fought the first Hokage! 

"I'm going to give you 20 seconds to explain to me why you're following me, brat." The voice spat and Obito couldn't help but smile. He knew he shouldn't be so happy right now but seriously. What were the odds? Now he could send Kakuzu to get Sasori instead of trying to figure out how to get out of the village in time to save him.

"I need your help." Obito said and Kakuzu turned to face him. His eyes were still the same frightening color they were before. Obito didn't look scared in the slightest which put Kakuzu off. Had he lost his touch?

"I'm not the helpful type." He said flatly and Obito smiled at him.

"Lucky for you I am." He said happily and hoped Itachi would get there soon. He likely wouldn't be able to engage with Kakuzu long without the man getting suspicious. 

"What. Do you. Want?" He asked slowly with a scowl in his voice.

"Please, Kakuzu, just be patient." Kakuzu's eyes narrowed and Obito realized that was probably not the best move. If Kakuzu knew that Obito knew who he was, he'd likely assume Obito was stalling him until backup arrived to take him down. "I have something for you. A proposal. I'm not ranked high enough to leave the village on my own. But you are."

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Good to know Kakuzu still had a temper and it didn't happen with old age... Er... Older age.

"I got it!" Itachi said with a smile, holding up the ring. Obito looked behind and noticed Kushina wasn't with him. "Sorry, I knocked her out." Itachi apologized, embarrassed. Obito pat him on the head.

"Good Itachi. I'll get you all the dango you can eat for that." He praised and turned to face Kakuzu.

"Wow, it really is him." Itachi said in awe. "He has hair."

"I know, I reanimated him. It was longer then." Kakuzu's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Not only did he have no idea what they were talking about, but he was annoyed that they weren't even scared of him enough to turn away from him. "Do you remember where he wore it?" Obito asked and held up the ring. Itachi held his left hand up and pointed to his pinky. 

"Orochimaru..." His ring finger with a slight redness in his cheeks. "Kisame..." Then his middle finger. "Kakuzu. He had it on his middle." Itachi said surely and Obito tossed Kakuzu the ring. 

"What the hell are you two talking about?" He asked with a hiss.

"Put on the ring and you'll find out." Obito said surely. Kakuzu examined the ring for a while. Could he sell it? It didn't seem to be very expensively made. What a shame. "Your left middle." Obito reminded and Kakuzu scowled under his mask. It didn't seem to have anything dangerous laced with it, that he could sense. With a sigh, he didn't realize why he was humoring two small boys but they were brave enough to meet him face to face and he was curious. He slid the ring on and his head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice. He clenched his head tightly and strangled out a noise of pain. So many memories were being burned into his brain it hurt. He fell to his knees. Yen, he should never have trusted those little shits enough to put the damn ring on.

Kakuzu was sure by the time he felt better they would've called for backup to kill him or something but when he looked up, they stood there with smiles on their faces.

"Kakuzu!" They chimed and Kakuzu was breathing heavily and looking around. "Let me tell you, it was really lucky for me that you came to the village because I honestly had no idea how to find you. Why are you here anyway?" Kakuzu stood up in a slight daze. So many memories of things that hadn't happened yet... Last he could remember was the stupid reanimation jutsu. He hated how irritated he got when he realized Hidan wasn't brought back with him.

"Where is Hidan?" He asked and Obito smiled.

"You asked the same thing when you were reanimated." He said and Kakuzu grumbled. "He doesn't have his memories yet."

"What the fuck is going on? Why do I have memories of a different life? Who the hell are you two?" Itachi frowned at that.

"How does he not remember me?"

"Itachi, you're four." Itachi nodded sadly.

"That's right..."

"Itachi?" Kakuzu seemed surprised.

"Yeah, right? Isn't he adorable?" Obito pinched his cheeks and Itachi smacked his hand away angrily. 

"Who are you?" Kakuzu's eyes narrowed at Obito.

"You can't recognize his annoying self? It's Tobi." Itachi said dryly and Kakuzu grimaced. Fantastic. He was wrapped back into this and Tobi seemed to be the ringleader. 

"Where is Madara? Pein? Konan?"

"We haven't found Pein or Konan and Madara and Zetsu aren't going to be here this time around." 

"This time around? You mean all these memories you gave me are virtually useless?" He didn't look very happy. Then again, it was Kakuzu and he was never happy. "What was the point of this?"

"Well I needed you to do me a favor and give other people their rings so everyone gets their memories back."

"Yes. But WHY." He emphasized and Obito blinked and turned to Itachi.

"Because even though our memories are useless, they're still a part of who we are. Even if the timeline is altered without Madara, there's still paths that we can avoid going down and if we have our insight on what happens nearly 20 years in the future, that's a great head start. Plus, we're given our old powers back too. 

"You sound like you want this to be something that has us help people." Kakuzu said with disgust in his voice.

"Well, yeah. We were already the bad guys before. See how that ended?"

"I had money. That's all I cared about." Kakuzu huffed and Obito smiled.

"You sure? Cause you seem to be asking where Hidan is a lot." Kakuzu growled.

"I just don't want that damned zealot messing everything up with his... personality." Kakuzu said, squinting his eyes in an irritated way. "And in case you forgot, I'm still in every one of the BINGO books so it isn't like I can magically change my ways now." 

"Well you can try." Itachi said softly and held out two rings. Obito stared at one of them in surprise.

"When the hell did you take my ring?" He asked and Itachi smiled sheepishly. "No it's fine, you can just give it to Sasori. Whatever." 

"Well, why don't you take Orochimaru's old ring. It isn't like we need him..." Itachi said with a frown and Obito scoffed. It was only a matter of time before Orochimaru went batshit crazy because Minato was made the Hokage. He wondered if he should trust the snake enough- no. Absolutely not. Obito nodded slowly with a sigh.

"How do you have all of the rings?" Kakuzu asked and snatched them from Itachi's hands and examined Hidan's for a bit too long. 

"I woke up with them." Obito said and rubbed his forehead. "So I guess I feel like I have to give them out, right?" Kakuzu stared at him and put the rings in his back pocket. 

"If you do plan on helping us, we really need you to give Sasori his first." Itachi explained. "Sasori is on the verge of turning himself into a puppet right about now. After that, you can send him this way. We'll figure out a way to get him into the village. It should be easier with Deidara and Hidan since they aren't ninja yet."

"What do you mean Hidan isn't a ninja yet?" Kakuzu asked angrily.

"Uh, Kakuzu, how old do you think Hidan was?"

"I honestly didn't give a shit. How old is the little hellion?" Obito and Itachi exchanged a look, then turned back to Kakuzu.

"Five." They said and Kakuzu's eyes bugged out.

"You want me to kidnap a five-year-old!?" 

"I mean, Kakuzu you kill people and bring them to get their bounties, it really isn't that hard in comparison." Obito said slowly. Kakuzu put his hand to his face and rubbed the bridge of his nose. 

"He has a point." Itachi agreed and Kakuzu pointed at the small Uchiha threateningly. 

"Don't you start, Itachi. I didn't actually hate you." Itachi pouted but stayed quiet and looked away. 

"So will you help?" Obito asked and Kakuzu turned to him with a hardened expression.

"I promise nothing." He said firmly and Obito frowned at him.

"Then give me the rings back so I can do it." Kakuzu put his hand over his pocket defensively.

"No." Well, that meant Kakuzu was going to do it. Obito would question why if he wasn't so sure the answer was Hidan.

"What are you doing in the village anyway?" Itachi asked randomly. "Were you in the village this time, the other time around?" Kakuzu paused and thought.

"No. I don't think so."

"Then why-"

"-I'm not sure." Kakuzu interrupted harshly. He didn't want to give them the satisfaction of saying he felt like something important was there. He found his answers. He just had to use them. "Now if you tiny demon spawns want to get away from me, I have better things to do than to talk to children."

"Oh wait." Obito stopped him. "If you need any of us for any reason, use the hand signals: Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram, bite your finger, and say the symbol on our ring, slam your hand to the ground. We'll be summoned to you instantly." Itachi's eyes widened. "Yeah, that's the seal on the rings. There's also a way to block the summoning in case you can't be summoned but I haven't activated it to your ring yet. Next time. We don't have time now." Kakuzu nodded slowly and walked off.

***

"Wha..." Kushina blinked and found herself sitting under a tree watching Obito and Itachi sparring on the field. When had she gotten here? What happened?

"Oh now you're up, Kushina! Sleepyhead!" Obito laughed and it gave Itachi the opening he needed to land a punch. "Ow, Itachi. Rude." They continued to spar and Kushina couldn't help but wonder why she was so out of it. 

***

It took a week and a half but Kakuzu found himself in front of the Village Hidden in the Sand. He sighed at the heat and was thankful his mouth was covered. He hated this village more than anything for no particular reason. 

He was able to get in easy enough. Seriously, with a war right around the corner, he assumed they would be on high alert but apparently that wasn't the case. It was ridiculous. He would be able to steal anything he wanted.

Kakuzu shook his head from the thoughts. He wasn't going to do anything until he found the brat. How old would this one be? Seven? Three? He couldn't even remember what the hell his age was. He looked all of thirteen when he saw the kid in the Akatsuki and he never aged.

That's right, the kid was actually a puppet. Creepy. 

Kakuzu wished he was a sensor type ninja. That would make this a lot easier. Now, he had to make it his mission to find Chiyo. Certainly she would be somewhere close to her grandson, right? Damn it. Why couldn't they just send Orochimaru to get Sasori. The kid loved that guy.

It was interesting though, walking through the village, seeing younger versions of people he would eventually know, or at least recognize. He even saw the fourth Kazekage. He was a teenager and reminded Kakuzu heavily of the Jinchuriki brat. Only this one had a different hair color. If Kakuzu could remember correctly, this brat could control gold dust. It was an intriguing power, he would love to use the kids gift to his advantage, however right now he had other things he needed to focus on. Like finding Sasori.

Kakuzu honestly didn't mind Sasori too much. He was decently collected as a shinobi but there was no saying how the kid would act right now. And was Itachi telling the truth about him? Did he really turn himself into a puppet or put his soul in a puppet or whatever the hell Itachi said? Why would he do that?

This mission was really the most boring thing he'd ever put himself on. If he was lucky, perhaps he could find something to do right after. A bounty. He had a BINGO book in his side-pouch so he could likely scan it for someone to hunt down while he was here. Then after he would head straight for the village hidden in the hotsprings to get Hidan. 

Kakuzu's steps faltered. Why the hell was he in a rush to get that damned religious crazed moron? He grumbled to himself and continued on, his eyes scanning around for any sign of the future Puppet Master.

***

"No, Rin, put your arms up like this." Obito instructed and Rin glared.

"I am!" She argued and Obito pouted at her.

"No you're not! Come on! I'm trying to teach you, here!" 

Kakashi watched them train with crossed arms. Minato stood by his side and also watched with interest. Itachi had tagged along and was currently just doing normal workouts as he usually did when he joined Obito. 

"Hey Kakashi, why don't you try and help out Itachi? I never see him practice anything other than his taijutsu while he's with us. Go see about his ninjutsu so we can gage where he's at. He could probably become a Genin soon." Kakashi nodded and made his way over to Itachi.

"Hey, Itachi." He greeted and Itachi looked at him with a smile.

"Kakashi-senpai, hello." He said and Obito suddenly paused and angrily pointed to Itachi.

"What have I told you about calling him senpai, you traitor!?" Itachi just stuck out his tongue, a ridiculously childish thing to do and it had Obito snort. If Sasuke could see him now... 

"Pay attention, Obito!" Rin argued. "You're training me, remember?" Obito was once again distracted and turned his head from Kakashi and Itachi with a final warning glare to Itachi. "Where were we?"

"I was telling you that your form sucked." Obito said unabashedly. 

"Obito! You jerk!"

"Looks like Obito is back to normal." Kushina said quietly from behind Minato as she approached. Minato turned to face her with a smile.

"Yeah. He's still ridiculously strong but I don't exactly know what he's holding back or why. Right now I have Kakashi trying to gage Itachi's strength. I have a feeling both of them are more powerful than they're letting on. What I don't know is why. Obito would normally be showing off. That's what he always did when he learned a new jutsu, yet here we are and nothing." Minato said quietly. "At least he's training Rin. A lot of defensive techniques, I'm unsure why he's so adamant about them right now though." Kushina nodded and leaned against the same tree Minato was on. They continued watching the students with smiles.

"I can't believe Kakashi made Jonin already." Kushina said quietly. "I wonder how Obito feels about it."

"It's strange. He should be pissed or he should be showing off more now but he's not. He did tell me earlier he'd like to be recommended to be promoted. I didn't know what to say. I'd have to write the letter myself but I don't know what he can do. He isn't showing me."

"Well maybe that's all the more reason to promote him."

"What do you mean?" Minato asked while Itachi dodged some rather impressive attacks from Kakashi.

"He's all grown up, Minato. He's not seeking out anyone's approval. He isn't brash like before. He's matured. I think he would be a great Jonin. Perhaps you should fight him and see for yourself." Kushina stopped talking there and watched Itachi fight with a narrowed gaze. "He's fighting like Obito." She whispered.

"They've been training a lot." Minato said with a nod and Kushina shook her head. Itachi's goggles were down so it was hard to say.

"No, Minato, I think Itachi has the Sharingan. Why is he hiding it?" Minato now watched Itachi closer. She was right. And it didn't take long for Itachi to figure out Kakashi's exact moves. He was always a step ahead. His taijutsu was consistent with someone who was using their Sharingan. "He could be a chunin already." 

"Yeah..." Minato drew his brows closer together. "But how did he get his Sharingan so quickly?"

***

"Thank you for the spar!" Itachi said politely and pulled his goggles back up to look at Itachi with his black eyes. Kakashi was panting and nodded slowly. The kid was fast. Neither of them won the match, but he didn't think either of them put their all into fighting. The impressive thing was that Itachi was at that level already. Had Obito really trained him?

Itachi bowed and quickly ran over to Obito. Obito was already done training Rin who tired out nearly 30 minutes ago. Kakashi allowed himself to walk over to Minato who was already watching him with a calm expression.

"I saw." He said quietly.

"He's a chunin, at least." Kakashi said and crossed his arms. "How?"

"Before this, he was being trained by his father, Fugaku. Everyone already said Itachi was a genius. I suppose this just cements it." 

"I want to fight Obito." Kakashi said seriously. "Somehow I want him to fight like he means it. There has to be stakes attached to it. I need to see where he's at."

"He did ask to have me write a letter for him to be a Jonin." Minato said quietly and Kakashi nodded. 

"Then let me fight him." Kakashi said and Minato turned to face his student and with a hardened look he nodded. If Obito wanted to become a Jonin, he'd have to beat Kakashi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I don't know if you follow my Tumblr or anything, but as of right now, all of my other fics (besides Bad Romance since it's co written) are on a hiatus. I may get back to them, and post them. Or I may write the chapters and not post them I have no idea. Anyway,
> 
> 1) Oh boy, so Kakashi v Obito. What do you think Obito is going to do?  
> 2) So Hidan is one of the only characters that I have an entire backstory prepared for. When Kakuzu shows up to Yugakure, what do you think he'll find with our tiny Hidan?  
> 3) What do you think will be the sole reason for Sasori to decide to leave his heartbreak behind and go forward and be a good guy instead?  
> 4) What do you want Kisame's first words to Itachi to be? (whether it be before or after he puts on his ring?)
> 
> Thanks everyone! Send your love.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet Sasori and Hidan this chapter! (And very very briefly, Gai)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **MelonLordOfMelon** : I'm so glad you do! Thank you for your answers! I love reading them. (As I haven't yet decided how Itachi and Kisame meet)  
>  **RelenaDuo** : Hidan and Kuzu meet this chapter~! But it's hardly exciting with everything that happens. I'm dying to bring Kisame back. I love my fish man. He's bae.   
> **Sai195** : I'm glad!! I kind of want him to use kamui since it's such an important part of his fighting style, but at the same time I'm not sure so I held the fight scene off another chapter!  
>  **Stark** : I don't plan to! I'm going to study a few of their fight scenes again before I actually write the fight chapter, but I agree. Obito is awesome! He's one of my favorites!  
>  **Vivi** : You know I won't stop writing. If anything, I'll keep writing until it's obnoxiously long then hate myself. I'm glad you enjoy it!  
>  **Raisa+Islam** : Obito wants to fight Kakashi, but also doesn't. When they fight, I can promise, he doesn't go all out. He will think of the best strategy to win but not make it seem unlikely that he won. With Hidan, you will see later on this chapter, but he is not Jashinian in the story at this age. That will be introduced later on and even then it'll have a complete side story of it's own. Kakashi will have a love interest later, Itachi is enamored with Kakashi as a sensei figure. Due to their ages, there will likely be Hidan/Deidara. Perhaps more Kakuzu/Hidan later.   
> **DaarRena** : It's funny that you say that because I always pictured Hidan as I wrote him in this chapter. I don't want to give too much away before it happens, but I also don't see him as a Jashinist until later on in his life. There will be a whole plot dedicated to Hidan once he gets his memories back but he's not due to get them back for a while. You did a pretty good job at speculating what I was going to write, so good for you for that! lol. I can't wait to write more of Hidan's back story! As for Kisame and Itachi, they have their whole own plot line too that I'm super excited about. I can't wait to write 14 year old Kisame! I know what happens when they meet, I just don't know how to get them to meet yet so I don't think he'll be here for a few chapters...  
>  **KukoGrande** : I'm very glad you like it my dear! If only Hidan's back story was that fun though. Aw having Kisame mention how cute Itachi is then realizing "oh f***" would be funny too.

Chapter Four:

Obito was furious. 

He stood across from Itachi on the lake they normally met at to train and he was relentless. Itachi was lucky in the month or so he had since getting his memories back, that his muscles toned a bit or he'd have quite the hard time keeping up with dodging the attacks. 

Finally, he was able to calm down enough in order to actually say what was bothering him. He sat down on the water and crossed his arms childishly. Itachi frowned and walked so he was standing in front of him. 

"I have to fight Kakashi." Obito said and pulled his goggles up. "If I want to be a Jonin, I have to fight Kakashi."

"So? You can do that. Easily." Itachi said simply and Obito frowned at the child.

"Exactly. That's the problem." Obito rubbed his face in irritation. "To top it off, somehow it managed to interest the Hokage so now HE will watch us fight. I don't know if I can do this. I'm going to be sick." 

"You're worrying for no reason." Itachi said flatly. "You were able to be Tobi, you can do this too. Plus, you were always with Deidara and didn't blow the cover you created."

"That's because I didn't fight. I just hid behind Deidara." Obito admitted and Itachi covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing. He could see Tobi hiding behind Deidara to protect him, but not Obito. It was hysterical to even picture.

***

Kakuzu was on his last thread of sanity. He'd been in Suna for 3 days and hadn't found the fucking puppeteer yet and it was hot as hell and did he mention he loathed the sand village? Because he did. Passionately. 

It seemed that some being was finally on his side because later that day, he was able to spot the familiar mop of red hair.

"Oh for the love of Yen, thank you..." He mumbled and quickly approached the short teenager. "You." Sasori looked up startled. Kakuzu had to briefly stop himself to look at him. He looked the same as before but different. His puppet must have been created to look like his 15-year-old self. This boy that stood in front of him, however, had a range of emotion on his face. Something he'd never seen with Sasori. 

"Yes?" He asked slowly, pushing his eyebrows together. 

"Shit." Kakuzu rubbed his head as he pulled out the ring. "What finger did this go on..." Sasori looked at the ring in mild surprise. Was this strange man proposing to him...? "Put this on your thumb. I think your left." Kakuzu said, handing the ring out. Sasori continued to look at Kakuzu with a strange expression. "Can you hurry up? I'm not patient." Kakuzu said dangerously low. Sasori grabbed the ring and looked at Kakuzu one last time before slipping the ring on. The poor kid looked terrified. 

As Kakuzu watched the younger collapse to his knees in pain, he wondered exactly how Tobi would've been able to bully the kid into putting the ring on. How he managed to get Kakuzu to put the ring on was beyond him.

"Ow!" Sasori looked up after writhing for a few minutes. Kakuzu stared at him with a scowl, as if Sasori were weak, not really paying attention to the fact that he'd done the same thing. "Kakuzu?" Sasori's eyes widened.

"Yes." Sasori stood up and dusted his pants off from kneeling in the sand. "What... How?" He looked around the village confused. 

"I honestly have no idea. I'm just following orders." Kakuzu said with a frown, realizing he said that out loud. He hoped Sasori didn't ask who-

"Who's orders?" Kakuzu grimaced again.

"You don't know him. He took your place after you died." Sasori looked down to his hands. His human hands. "I was ushered to come find you before you offed yourself into a puppet."

"Well..." Sasori looked up at the taller man with a frown. "I..." He closed his mouth. Kakuzu was almost too late. That was impeccable timing, honestly. "Why did you wake me?"

"I told you. I was told to."

"What good is it going to do?" Sasori's eyes narrowed.

"To hell if I know." Sasori looked at the ground then back to Kakuzu.

"Where's Deidara?"

"In his village, I guess. His ring wasn't finished. I had to get you and now I'm on my way to get Hidan." Sasori nodded slowly. "Tobi and Itachi seem to want to start a group of do-gooders. If that's your preferred method of self-destruction, head to the leaf village. I was just told to give you those memories. What you do with them is no business of mine."

"Deidara... Is only a baby." Sasori said slowly and looked to the sky. "I need to get to him."

"Okay..." Kakuzu said, wondering why Sasori needed to tell him that. "How do you plan on doing that?"

"He doesn't need his memories back yet. I can just go get him... He doesn't have to grow up alone. Not like I did."

"I'd suggest getting your technique up to speed before you tried to kidnap a child." Kakuzu said flatly. "Now, it took me three damn days to find you so I'm ready to leave." 

"Let me come with you." Sasori begged and Kakuzu turned back to him curiously. Sasori wasn't the most annoying partner when they teamed up. He was quiet enough. "Please, there isn't anything here for me."

"You do realize we're going to get Hidan, right? Hidan is first. Then we can get your brat. And if you think I'm changing diapers-"

"No it's fine! Really. Let's go get Hidan." Kakuzu gave a stiff nod and Sasori looked to his house. "Let me just grab my scrolls where I keep my puppets. It'll be a second." Sasori ran off and Kakuzu huffed. 

***

"We should get there in a week, right?" Sasori asked once they left the village. Again, too easily. 

"Actually, no. Three days. We're going to take a shortcut." Kakuzu frowned. "What is the symbol on Itachi's ring?"

"Uh, shu. His was red." Kakuzu nodded. He motioned for Sasori to touch his shoulder. Once Sasori had hold on him, he began doing the signals Obito told him to do, but backwards. Ram. Monkey. Bird. Dog. Boar. He bit his thumb, slammed it on the ground.

They disappeared and a puff of smoke.

***

Itachi and Obito were still on the lake but this time they were trying to come up with a plan of attack for the fight with Obito and Kakashi. 

It happened so suddenly, right by Itachi's side, there was a summoning seal and Kakuzu and Sasori stood for a few seconds and then plummeted into the water, not forming chakra in their feet, unrealizing they'd be summoned on top of water.

Kakuzu caught himself fairly quickly and climbed on top of the water, with most of his clothes soaked through. Sasori wasn't as lucky and Obito had to yank him out of the water. 

"Chakra control, learn it." Obito said seriously and Sasori glared at him.

"Excuse me, I didn't expect to be thrown into a lake."

"How did you do that anyway?" Obito asked and looked to Kakuzu who formed some hand seals to create a strong wind current to dry himself off. He then looked down to Obito.

"I took your hand seals and did them backwards. I was able to summon myself to Itachi's ring." Obito's eyes widened, clearly impressed. "I found Sasori." Obito glanced over at the redhead.

"We noticed. You almost killed him too." Kakuzu stared blankly at Obito. "I should create another seal in my apartment so you guys can summon somewhere neutral and not risk teleporting somewhere ridiculous again." Kakuzu continued to stare at Obito unimpressed. 

"So this is Tobi, huh?" Sasori asked Kakuzu. Kakuzu nodded and Obito glanced at the older male. He may be older by two years, but he was slightly shorter than Obito was. "Deidara told me about you when we were reanimated. His dumbass partner that drove him crazy. He yelled at me for dying and leaving him with you." Well, if there was a word that could be used to describe Sasori, it would be honest. (Or an asshole.) Obito pursed his lips at that but didn't say anything.

"Why are you here anyway? It's hardly to drop off Sasori."

"I didn't want to walk a week. If I could leave from here, that would save me 3 days of walking." Kakuzu said simply and Obito nodded. It didn't surprise him to hear how smart Kakuzu was. 

"On your way to get Hidan?"

"Yeah. Sasori wants to join. Do you have Deidara's ring? May as well pick up that brat too." Sasori's eyes narrowed at the grin Deidara's name brought to Obito's face.

"Here." Itachi handed the ring to Kakuzu. "The new seal summoning in Obito's house will be called Tsuki." Kakuzu nodded and Obito held back a smirk. 

"Good luck with Hidan." Obito said and waved them off with a smile.

Once Kakuzu and Sasori were able to leave the village, Sasori turned to Kakuzu.

"So, Deidara told me Tobi was incredibly annoying but he never told me why." Kakuzu sighed.

"He followed Deidara around like a puppy. Called him senpai. Hugged him all the time. Honestly, Deidara liked the attention, don't let him fool you. Deidara shit gold in Tobi's eyes. That does not mean he was any less annoying. If he were my partner, I would have killed him." Sasori nodded slowly, interesting...

***

Getting to Yugakure was simple enough. Especially with Sasori actually moving along quickly. Kakuzu remembered why he enjoyed working with him so much. He didn't really talk. Even now.

They managed to get there in under three days which was fantastic considering it should've been a four-day trip. If Sasori wondered about it, he didn't say anything. Which was smart on his part because no one hits harder than a defensive Kakuzu. 

"Should we eat something first?" Sasori asked once they made it to the gates. The village didn't have much security, as it was known for their hot springs so was more of a touristy area anyway. They walked right in and everyone was none the wiser. 

"We can eat after we get Hidan." Kakuzu said gruffly and Sasori raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Kakuzu looked around the village and then stopped to look at Sasori. "Are you a sensory type?"

"I'm fairly decent." Sasori admitted and Kakuzu nodded. Sasori took that as a 'then look for Hidan's chakra' so began to focus. It was hard to get a reading, but for the most part he couldn't sense much chakra here at all. Must be the tourists.

They continued wandering around while Sasori sent out some feelers for Hidan's chakra. He couldn't feel his signature at all which was strange and uncomfortable. 

Kakuzu was getting impatient. After looking for Hidan for nearly three hours and not finding him, it was really frustrating him. How hard would it be to find that moron? He was loud and obnoxious! 

"There!" Sasori pointed to a general direction and they started to walk at a slightly brisker pace. 

What Kakuzu found though... wasn't what he expected at all...

"Is he gonna cry?"

"He's such a freak."

"He's so creepy just look at him!" 

Kakuzu stiffened in his spot. Sasori's eyes narrowed. 

"I will give you three seconds to get off of him before I start hurting you." Kakuzu said dangerously low. The group of... teenagers? Turned around to face the person who spoke and before they could even say anything, Kakuzu snapped upon seeing a tiny bloodied up Hidan. "I changed my mind." Threads poured out of his body in record speed and wrapped themselves around each of the boy's necks, hoisting them off the ground. Kakuzu was furious but he thinks one of the main reasons was they beat Hidan so bad he was in and out of consciousness and couldn't exactly take pleasure in his attacker's assault. 

"Probably shouldn't kill a bunch of Genin, Kakuzu." Sasori mumbled and Kakuzu scoffed. "Have you gone soft?" That stopped him dead in his tracks. No. He threw the boys to the side, they were gasping for breath, half strangled and in a daze. He didn't watch them as they stumbled away. Kakuzu's eyes bore into the lump on the ground that was Hidan. He was swimming in whatever shirt he was wearing. It was weird seeing him wear a shirt.

"Wake up, Hidan." Kakuzu demanded and Hidan's eyes opened slowly. It bothered Kakuzu more than he cared to admit that there was no semblance of recognition in them. 

"Can't. Move." He rasped out slowly and coughed up a bit of blood. Kakuzu's teeth clenched and he leaned over to scoop the boy up which he surprisingly didn't fight. His head rolled towards Kakuzu and his forehead was resting on Kakuzu's chest. Holding the boy, Kakuzu couldn't help but notice how light he was. He hadn't held anyone else this age, so he supposed that's how light children were.

"Let's go." Sasori nodded.

"Should we go back to Tobi's?" Kakuzu nodded. "Alright. Grab my shoulder." Kakuzu grasped Sasori's shoulder firmly. Running through the hand signs, biting his thumb, slamming it on the ground, he finished with "Tsuki!" And they disappeared.

And reappeared in a dark, cramped room.

"What the hell?" Sasori grumbled and groped around the area for a way to get out. When he finally got to the door and opened it, he glowered, figuring out that they put the damn seal in a closet. Would've been real nice to know before they transported 3 people, but whatever. 

Kakuzu walked around the house in search of anywhere to put Hidan down. He didn't even care where it was at this point. There was a lot of warmth soaking through his clothes and onto Kakuzu's hands. Kakuzu wasn't sure if the kid pissed himself or was just bleeding that much. 

"Summon Tobi. He has Orochimaru's ring." Sasori nodded.

"How do I summon people?"

"Do what you did before but backwards." Kakuzu instructed and Sasori did as he was told. Obito appeared in front of Sasori and looked around him curiously.

"Wow, you guys are back alre—What the hell happened to him?" Obito's eyes widened and he rushed over to the small form of Hidan.

"He needs a bath." Kakuzu said, wrinkling his nose. "And my clothes need to be burned."

"Shit." Obito ran out of the room and started the bath, making sure the water was nice and warm. Kakuzu followed after and Obito grabbed Hidan from his arms and Kakuzu frowned at that. "Holy hell, he's lighter than Itachi!" Obito placed Hidan on the ground and started carefully peeling his clothes off. It was harder in some areas where he had been bleeding before, only the area healed and his skin was healing to the fabric of the shirt. "What happened to him?" Obito was suddenly worried about everyone else in the Akatsuki. What horrors could the others have faced as children to make them as they were. 

Getting his clothes off took a ridiculous amount of patience and Obito realized that if anyone's clothes needed to be burned, it was Hidan's. When the hell had he changed out of these rags? 

"Can one of you summon Itachi?" Sasori nodded and figured he would just drain all of his chakra today, why not?

"Hey." Itachi blinked and looked down at Hidan. "What the fuck-"

"Itachi! You're four!" Itachi glared at him. "No but seriously you need to get in the bath with Hidan."

"Wait what?" 

"You're the only one small enough to do it. Come on. The poor kid suffered enough. Get your clothes off and drag your tiny ass into the tub." Itachi glared and his cheeks started to warm but looking at Hidan's state, he didn't argue. 

"His ribs are showing an awful lot." Itachi noticed and looked at Obito. "Is he going to make it?"

"Make it? He's immortal. Of course he'll make it." Kakuzu scoffed.

"Didn't he heal faster than this when he was immortal? And he isn't wearing his necklace. Maybe he hasn't joined the religion yet." Kakuzu frowned at the thought. What use was his annoying partner without his immortality?

Obito lowered Hidan into the tub while Itachi sat in it to help. Itachi wrinkled his nose at the smell and decided he needed to bathe a few more times after this to get himself cleaned. There was blood, dirt and who knows what else on Hidan's body. Obito passed Itachi a washcloth and the both of them started to scrub the dirt and caked on blood off. Kakuzu stared from a few feet away but didn't move to help. Sasori was mixing things in the sink to use as some form of paste for his wounds once he was dressed. 

"Kakuzu, I need you to go get him something to wear. He's too small for my clothes but he's nearly a foot taller than Itachi so he can't wear his either."

"You want me to go into town looking like this?" Kakuzu asked flatly.

"Well... Maybe not. Transform into me and go."

"If I'm transforming into you, I'm using your money." Obito pouted at that but didn't say anything against it. Smoke filled the room and when it cleared out, Obito was staring at an exact replica of how he looked, except Kakuzu wasn't smiling. Naturally. 

"If you aren't smiling and you run into someone I know, they WILL stop you to ask what's wrong." Kakuzu scowled at that which was strange to see on his face. "They will ask even more if you make THAT face."

"Have Sasori do it then." Kakuzu said with a glare.

"He doesn't know the village. You do. Goodbye, Kakuzu." Obito gave him a final look that looked eerily similar to Madara. 

"Brat." Kakuzu hissed and left. Sasori was stunned for a second. The look in Tobi's eyes seemed much different than what Deidara described him to be. How strange.

***

"Obito! My friend!" Kakuzu closed his eyes tightly in annoyance. "Have you seen my rival? I was thinking of challenging him to one of our hot-blooded-"

"Listen. I honestly don't give a shit. I don't know where Kakashi is." Kakuzu said lowly and the man looked at him in slight shock. Kakuzu inwardly groaned. He better not have to deal with this longer than necessary. 

Before he could be talked to again, Kakuzu left quickly with killing intent so strong, Gai shuffled backwards. What in god's name was that about?

***

Two hours later and everyone was cleaned and dressed. Kakuzu picked clothes that were too big on Hidan but honestly it was the best he could find. After bathing the first time, both Itachi and Hidan had to wash themselves off from the murky bathwater. To top it all off, Hidan was still knocked out. 

"Maybe we should get Rin here." Itachi said, looking worriedly at Hidan.

"Yeah, you might be right." He looked to Kakuzu and Sasori. "You two. In the closet."

"What!?" Sasori protested. "I'm not getting in there!"

"Whatever. Itachi. Do what you need to do. I'm going to find Rin."

***

By the time Obito got back with Rin, Itachi successfully locked Kakuzu and Sasori in the closet. How, he wasn't exactly sure, but he was thankful for Kakuzu. If Kakuzu actually threw a big enough fit against it, they would likely still be outside. Itachi insisted that it must be done, or else Rin may alert others that they were there.

"Oh my goodness, where did you find him?" Rin asked and ran over to Hidan. "Oh the poor thing, how old is he? He's so tiny."

"I think he's five. Is there anything you can do?" Obito asked and Rin frowned and started pulling Hidan's shirt off and pressed her lips tightly together. "What?"

"Obito..." She said quietly and shook her head. "I... I'm a medical ninja, yes. But... I can't think of anything that could save him. His body is shutting down. He's so malnourished, he's going to die of starvation. There isn't anything I can do-" Rin made a yelp when the closet door was thrown off it's hinges. She watched with wide eyes as a tall, imposing man with duo colored eyes glowered down at her.

"Well, I tried." Itachi said with a sigh. Sasori followed Kakuzu shorly after, stepping over the door fragments. 

"He is not dying." Kakuzu said tersely. "Fix him."

"U-uh Obito, w-who is this?"

"Obito? I thought your name was Tobi." Sasori said and Kakuzu sent him a glare. Now was not the time to talk about whatever anyone called Obito.

"Rin, are you sure? There's absolutely nothing you can do?" Rin nodded slowly.

"We can bring him to the hospital, but I'm not sure what they can do either. Like I said, he's very underfed. I'm amazed he's still alive right now." Kakuzu nearly growled and Obito hoped he could control his temper for a bit. "There's no way there's any way to get as many calories in him as he needs to stop his body from shutting down right now. I'm sorry. But that's my medical opinion." Obito began thinking and stared off out of his window and thought about what she was saying. Kakuzu continued to argue with her, then brought Sasori into the argument saying he would've gotten there in time if Sasori wasn't trying to turn himself into a puppet. Which Sasori responded in a way that insulted Hidan and Kakuzu and Sasori almost got into a full on fight in the living room.

"I got it!" Obito yelled and ran out of the house.

"What is he talking about?" 

"I can't wait to tell Hidan that you were worried about him." Sasori said with a hint of humor and Kakuzu slowly turned his head and glared at him.

"Itachi... who are they?" Rin asked and Itachi just smiled.

"Oh, don't worry about them, they're just our friends." Rin couldn't help the awkward forced smile she gave the younger Uchiha as she looked over at the older man who clearly didn't seem very friendly and wondered how the hell Itachi and Obito managed to befriend him.

She walked over to Hidan's body and decided to do her best to heal his injuries. If Obito really did have a plan, the more she could do to help his body, the better. Itachi stood on a stool to make it so he could see what she was doing and he watched her heal Hidan. She looked up at his curious eyes and smiled.

"Were you considering being a medical ninja, Itachi?" She asked and his large round eyes stared over at her confused. As if he never even considered it. After all the years he lived, hurting people, begging his father to allow him to not fight. Being a pacifist. And not once had he considered becoming a medical ninja.

"Yes." He answered finally and Rin grinned at him. She explained what she was doing and without even thinking, Itachi's Sharingan bled through the blacks of his eyes. Rin wanted to make a noise of surprise, but she held it back, Itachi was too focused on something to be put on guard and the more she could make him act that way, the closer she'd be to finding out what was going on. 

Itachi watched her heal and copied her to the best of his abilities at his age. He put his hands out as she did and his hands began glowing blue with chakra. Rin gave him a smile of encouragement and he smiled back at her.

The wounds were closing and the bruises began to fade. She was impressed with the swiftness of Itachi's learning and realized she shouldn't be impressed. It was Itachi, after all. 

Kakuzu and Sasori watched in curiosity. Kakuzu's was mainly based on the fact that Itachi had changed significantly since his previous life. Sure, that could attribute to the fact that he was four, but there was something in him that was pure again. Never once did he think Itachi would go out of his way to heal someone and there he was, learning for the sake of helping Hidan, who Itachi honestly didn't care for very much anyway. Kakuzu turned to Sasori.

"Everything is going to be different this time around, huh?" Sasori asked quietly. He then looked to his own hands and watched them begin to glow with chakra. If there was one thing he was good at, it was chakra manipulation. He needed it for his strings. Focusing it on his palms was even easier than making small threads with it. Sasori realized as he watched Itachi that this time around, he didn't need to become Sasori of the Red Sand. He had a clean slate. Everyone did... Everyone but...

Kakuzu's frown deepened and he crossed his arms tightly. 

Everyone but Kakuzu...

***

"I'm so sorry it took me so long!" Obito shouted, bursting into the apartment. Itachi and Rin were still standing over Hidan's unconscious body and Obito handed Rin some pills. She glanced at them and her eyes widened.

"How-"

"-I helped quite a few old Akamichi clan members out!" He said with a grin. Kakuzu rose from his seat to examine with Obito retrieved. 

"What is it?"

"Well the Akamichi clan has pills that turns their calories to chakra to boost their power. They usually eat a lot in order to maintain the amount of calories needed to fight. They also have these pills which are packed with calories to use in a pinch. They're not very well known and not used much anymore, but they're there! Just gotta ask the right Akamichi!" Obito said with a grin. It was Sasori's turn to get up. Rin furrowed her brow.

"How are we going to get him to swallow the pills?" She asked and Sasori's fingertips lit up with chakra.

"Leave that to me." He said quietly and Kakuzu stared at him briefly before looking back to Hidan. 

Using his chakra strings, he was able to manipulate the muscles in Hidan's throat to get the pill down his esophagus and into his stomach. Once it hit, Hidan's body produced the faintest glow of green and they were impressed to see right before their eyes his body expand a fraction. His ribs were still visible, but they weren't so dangerous looking anymore. 

"Can we give him another one?" Itachi asked and Obito frowned and shook his head.

"Not until later. It's a lot of calories for his body to deal with. Don't worry, we'll make sure he's fine..." Obito trailed off and looked at Itachi with slight shock. "Itachi..." He whispered and Itachi's face colored and he looked away, willing his Sharingan to disappear. This was not good. Obito stared at the back of Rin's head and she didn't seem to notice anything happen but that didn't mean she didn't notice it at all. 

"Are we going to get Deidara now?" Sasori asked, looking at Kakuzu. Rin's eyebrow raised. She'd heard Kakashi mention the name Deidara before when talking about Obito. Who was Deidara?

"Once this dumbass zealot wakes up, we'll get your brat." Obito sighed, he supposed everyone was sleeping over in his apartment. What a fun sleepover that would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Are you all ready to see some Dad!Kakuzu? Cause that's what you're going to get when Hidan wakes up.  
> 2) What kind of personality do you think Hidan will have when he eventually wakes up?  
> 3) How do you want to see Kisame introduced into the story?  
> 4) I forgot this question last chapter, do you think Orochimaru will ever get his ring back?
> 
> I'm impressed. This story got about 300 hits last chapter alone and I got 9 comments lol. Come on guys, leave me some love. I'm very sick right now. 
> 
> I drew myself fanart. If you'd like to know what they all look like right now, here ya go~!  
> https://smoresiesfanfic.tumblr.com/post/170829830167/yaaaayyy-another-picture-for-deliverence-i-dont  
> (Yes, Kakuzu will dress Deidara in small versions of his clothes. That's my aesthetic.)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hidan is awake  
> Kakashi Vs Obito   
> *So many comments I have to start up here*  
>  **WOW544** : Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it! I hope you have a nice day too!  
>  **XioFMH** : I love Obito/Deidara so much so likely those two, however no pairing for Deidara for quite some time! (Sad) Kisame won't be here for a while still (maybe another +2 chapters. I love him but I'm not sure how quickly I can move things along. I'm already writing it too fast paced!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **InArduisFidelis** : Oh-ho-ho Orochimaru actually is in this fic a LOT. So prepare for him. And there's TONS of Dad!Kakuzu in this chapter because I adore him.  
>  **Aka** : Thank you! Enjoy the Dad!Kakuzu this chapter. He's bae. Thank you, I do feel better finally!  
>  **RelenaDuo** : Oooo I can't wait to get to Oro. I love my snake boi. Kakuzu will need tons of help, which he'll get by being a daddy~! We get more Hidan backstory later. Theres a tiny bit this chapter but not much!  
>  **sakaeamara** : No it's totally cool. You din't have to comment every chapter, I understand. It's when people don't comment for a while and I'm like "wow I hope they're ok" And Kakuzu will still be the same angry old grandpa but this time he'll have children to take care of and I'm living for it. (I can't wait to write crude Hidan, unfortunately that won't come until later.) Sorry my dear, Oro is a big role in this story, I know it doesn't seem like it yet but he'll be introduced soon. And that was the plan. I keep drawing them like family pictures because they're a family~! Thank you for commenting!  
>  **Vivi** : omg same. I love my daddy Kakuzu (that sounded kinkier than I intended.) I loved writing Hidan this chapter, my pure cinnamon roll. Oro will be in the story tons. We'll get to see what our snake boi is up to soon.  
>  **SweetAlphaChild** : Yeah, seriously. I even added him learning how to eat again in this chapter lol. I mean Sasori may still make human puppets idk yet. I haven't gotten that far with him yet. Nope! Deidara is only 1 so he's not potty trained (poor dad!Kakuzu and big brother!Sasori lol) Which pairing did I mention? I forgot. Was it SasoDei? Cause I don't like SasoDei lol. Hidan will start his shit later on. Right now he's shy. I hope you like my shy boi. And in theory, if Oro got his ring back, he would get all the memories from the last time he wore it.   
> **Lollipopgang71** : Hey look, you butt. You actually commented. Well you get one of those things you wanted from Hidan this chappie. I love my snekman too. You already know what happens so I'm not even humoring you anymore. bye.  
>  **KukoGrande** : Hahaha Dad!Kakuzu will only get cuter with Deidara in the picture. I'm so hype for this. Yes, my poor albino boi is scare. I will have Kisame meet Itachi before he remembers him. It's too cute to pass up! Oro has an arc planned in this story. It's a good arc. I'm hype about it.  
>  **Stark** : Yassss Daddy Kuzu <33 I love my snekman so he will be here. And important. I have not given thought to how Konan, Nagato and Yahiko will show up, but they will show up eventually. They're some of the people Obito has to do the most penance for.   
> **DuskBeforeDawn** : Awww bratty Hidan. He'll come later. Probably after he gets his memories because he knows he's cute and Kakuzu can't deny him. We'll find out later because Hidan doesn't get his memories for a while!  
>  **YAOI_shipsFreak** : Oh bless. If you give me fanart I'll die. Even if they're stick figures. I'm glad you like the story so far! And your idea made me laugh. Honestly the mom friend is Itachi at this point. Obito houses them but Itachi is the one that will scold everyone and cook and heal. Poor guy. Obito is useless. But he could be a mom friend. I love him. But I would love to see them in those shirts, it sounds hysterical.  
>  **surreyality** : The rings work as they give you the memories up until the last time you wore it. So if Oro got his ring back he'd get it from there! But the start of the story is when Obito dies in the show so that's when Oro is still "Dead"  
>  **MelonLordOfMelon** : Aw a loud and proud hidan. What a concept. After this chapter that warms my heart lol. I'd love to see an over protective Kisame tbh. I love him.  
>  **DaarRena** : I would expect nothing less from you, my dear. I hope you're just as excited to read this chapter! Sorry it took so long my life hates me lol. We get more about Hidan and his abuse later on. (A reason he doesn't get his memories back. Kakuzu knows older Hidan won't tell him) And eventually Kakuzu has to be happy, right? Well as of right now, Hidan hasn't been shown Jashinism yet so he's still confused. We get more of Hidan's development next chapter when they get Deidara. And getting Deidara will be a sad chapter. Thank you for your break down of everything, it's always nice to see someone think that much about something I wrote.   
> **Farvel** : Thank you! I'm so happy you feel that way. Sasori and Obito WILL fight over Deidara. (but Deidara wants other people's attention each time so they're pissed) lmao wait until Itachi has to give a class of grown men how to change a diaper. Hidan and Kakuzu are sweet this chapter I love them. We'll find out more about oro next chapter :)

Chapter Five:

"Hey Obito." Rin greeted and Obito smiled at her. "I was wondering..." She stepped in closely. "Is he okay?" She whispered and Obito shrugged with a frown.

"He hasn't woken up yet still." Obito said quietly and Rin nodded.

"I was afraid of that. You should bring him to the hospital." Obito frowned. "Seriously, Obito. You don't know-"

"That’s why I have you, Rin." He said, doing his best to smile forcefully. She sighed and nodded slowly.

"After training I'll stop by to check on him. It's been four days... How are your... house guests?" She asked with a slight wince. Obito laughed dryly. Yeah, house guests. More like the bane of his existence. At least he had food to go home to. 

Sasori and Itachi were always making something in the kitchen so Sasori could taste food again. Sasori was almost always eating something and then ranting about the art needed to create the food. Kakuzu would scold everyone for wasting money but he would also eat the biggest portion of anything made. He said it was tax for him having to put up with them. Itachi didn't mind, he had a cooking partner to reach the shelves he couldn't. And when Sasori couldn't reach them either because he was a whopping foot taller than the four-year-old, they would annoy Kakuzu to get it. Then Kakuzu would complain that they were ninja and couldn't even climb on a damn counter to get the bowls on the top shelf. In the same regard, at some point he walked in on them standing on the counters and then scolded them for standing on the counters. They honestly couldn't win.

"They're... surviving." Obito said loosely. She pursed her lips and nodded. "Thank you for not mentioning them."

"One of these days you're going to owe me an explanation." She said with a raised eyebrow. 

"And I am forever grateful that this is not that day." Obito said, smiling. She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"So, you nervous about your fight with Kakashi?" She asked, changing the uncomfortable subject to probably an even worse subject. They were having the fight in two more days. Obito was trying not to stress about it. And this time he had Kakuzu to train with (when the man actually wanted to move which was rare if it wasn't motivated by money). 

"Uh, not really." He wasn't nervous that he would lose. He was nervous that he would win too well. If that made sense...

"Good. I've seen how much you improved, Obito. And you're doing amazing." She complimented and he smiled at her.

***

"Kakuzu!" Itachi yelled from Obito's bedroom. "Get in here!" Kakuzu stood up and quickly walked to the door. He opened it to be met with two large bright purple eyes staring at him. "Guess who's up?"

"Finally the brat is awake." Kakuzu sneered and Hidan tilted his head to the side.

"Are you..." He rasped out. He coughed a bit and rubbed his throat, clearing it several times. "Are you the guy who stopped them?" Kakuzu frowned, not wanting to be associated with hero-like behavior, but he wasn't a liar either so he gave a curt nod. Hidan bowed his head. "Thank you, mister."

"Kakuzu." Kakuzu corrected. Hidan looked up surprised, then smiled.

"Mr. Kakuzu." He amended and Kakuzu rolled his eyes.

"Why the hell didn't you fight back?" He barked and Hidan flinched at his tone and looked to Itachi nervously. Itachi then glared at Kakuzu who didn't seem very apologetic.

"I don't know how..." He mumbled.

"You can't fight?" Kakuzu asked incredulously. "Why?" Now Hidan looked even more embarrassed.

"I can't use ninjutsu." He admitted quietly and realization dawned on Kakuzu. 

Through their entire partnership, he never once witnessed Hidan use ninjutsu. It was always just his ritual or bukijutsu. And Hidan was one of the quickest, most agile fighters he met. It never occurred to Kakuzu how hard Hidan must've trained to get to that level, he only saw him as a moron. And there was the other time where the two of them were looking at an illusion and Hidan had begged Kakuzu to release the illusion for him. Kakuzu just assumed he was lazy. 

"That's no excuse." Kakuzu snapped, after a second. "There are plenty of great ninja who use taijutsu or bukijutsu alone. Ninjutsu isn't the only way to fight. Neither is genjutsu." He looked at Itachi and Itachi shrugged.

"Worked on Deidara..." He mumbled cheekily.

"Uh, Mr. Kakuzu, where am I?"

"The Leaf Village." Itachi supplied for him. Hidan looked confused.

"Oh... I'm... isn't that far?"

"It's a four-day trip." Hidan's eyebrows rose up in surprise.

"Four days?" A nod. "W...why?" He suddenly looked nervous and scared. "I-I don't have any money or anything. No one will pay for me. I won't be missed. Why did you...?" Kakuzu frowned, the hellion thought he was being kidnapped for ransom? If he was going to kidnap anyone for ransom it would be someone with a bounty that he didn't need to keep alive.

"Yes. We took you in. Healed your injuries, saved you from dying of starvation and we want a ransom." Kakuzu said flatly. "You moron, we aren't looking for compensation!"

"Don't yell at him!" Itachi argued and Kakuzu glared at him. 

"He's being ridiculous!"

"He's FIVE!" Itachi said and they heard Sasori laugh from the other room. "Shut UP, Sasori!"

"You're four! You can't tell me to shut up!" Itachi's expression turned blank and he sighed.

"Come on, let's get you something to eat." Itachi said and climbed off the stool he was sitting on next to the bed. Hidan slowly followed him and looked down to see he was in new clothes. More interestingly enough, he didn't... feel his ribs anymore. He pulled up his shirt and noticed that not only did he not see his ribs anymore, but he had a tummy pouch now.

"How did you-"

"-Magic. Now go fuckin eat." Kakuzu said and Hidan looked down at his hands that were chubby like a normal five year olds.

"Okay, Mr. Kakuzu."

***

Obito got home a few hours later with Rin behind him and noticed there was arguing in the kitchen. How new. When he walked to the doorframe with Rin following, he noticed a heated argument going between Sasori and Itachi.

"What are you two fighting about?" Obito asked slowly, almost not even wanting to know the answer.

"They're arguing about not liking to argue." Hidan supplied and Obito nodded and turned to leave.

"You're awake??" Rin was instantly at Hidan's side trying to examine him but he got extremely freaked out and nearly fell off of his chair. 

"I'm so sorry!" Rin apologized and stepped back. "I just need to examine you to make sure you're okay. I was the one who healed you." Hidan looked to Kakuzu for a reassuring glance. He didn't exactly find reassurance, but Kakuzu did stare over at him and looked him in the eyes. The expression was icy, but somehow it made Hidan feel slightly better. He nodded slowly and Rin went to grab his arm and he flinched again.

"Hidan..." Kakuzu said dangerously low. "She needs to make sure you're ok." Hidan stared at the man in confusion. Hidan? Hidan squeezed his fist tightly and moved closer to Kakuzu and only let Rin examine him with Kakuzu less than a half a foot away. It was effective enough that Sasori and Itachi ceased arguing to give leering looks at Kakuzu. To which he obviously flipped them off. 

"Wow. Flipping off a four year old, mature." Itachi said and crossed his arms. Obito walked in the room slightly and noticed how Hidan's expression seemed to panic.

"Guys, let's give them some space." Obito said to Itachi and Sasori. They nodded reluctantly and left the room. Since Hidan felt less crowded around, he was able to breathe better. Rin noticed he was shaking and couldn't help but frown.

"You okay, sweetie?" Rin asked softly and Hidan didn't answer her. He just stared dead ahead with an ominously blank look on his face. She could feel his heart speed up and started to hum and attempted to ease him with her chakra. She'd been told she had a very calming chakra to some so hopefully Hidan felt the same way. She looked up at Kakuzu then jerked her expression back to Hidan several times before Kakuzu rolled his eyes and held his hand out in front of Hidan. Hidan grasped the hand and held onto it as tightly as he could. Kakuzu was able to pool chakra into his hand and somehow feeling his chakra, made Hidan significantly calmer. 

Hidan must somehow remember his chakra. Maybe his memories weren't as far as they were supposed to be. 

"Okay, Hidan. You're all set." Rin said. "You're wounds are all healed, you aren't starving, you're good to go." Rin bowed her head and quickly left the room. Hidan's hands were still clinging to Kakuzu's large hand. 

"Why..." Hidan started quietly. Curiously, Kakuzu looked over at him. He still couldn't believe he was staring at his partner. A small timid child with wild hair. He'd have to brush it back at some point because his hair was messier than Obito's. "Why Hidan?"

"...What?" It was often that Hidan could leave Kakuzu speechless but never out of confusion.

"Why did you name me Hidan?" Hidan asked and looked up into Kakuzu's eyes. 

"..." Kakuzu's eyes narrowed. What the hell was he talking about? "What's your name?" He picked and Hidan shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. I never had one." He admitted and Kakuzu's eyes widened a fraction. "But I like Hidan. Can you teach me how to spell it?"

Kakuzu sincerely hoped this would be the last time he'd look at Hidan with any type of amazement.

"Yeah, I'll teach you." Hidan smiled, a small smile really, but it reminded Kakuzu of his partner's normal cocky grin. He couldn't describe the feeling, he just... He missed his partner. "I'm also going to teach you how to fight." Kakuzu said with narrowed eyes. Hidan seemed surprised and slightly put off but he nodded anyway. 

***

"Good morning." Obito greeted and Sasori stared curiously.

"Where's Itachi?"

"He had to go home. His mom picked him up." Obito said, trying to fight off a smile. "Our poor four year old partner." Sasori nodded with a slight pout. He had no idea how to work things in the kitchen without Itachi so he supposed he wasn't cooking. He slumped on the couch. "Where's Kakuzu and Hidan? They still asleep, you know?"

"Uh, their door was closed when I walked passed so I don't know." Sasori said and Obito nodded. 

The lucky thing about his apartment was it was owned by his parents. There were three bedrooms, which seemed excessive at the time, but Obito was glad for it since now he could house everyone without them being in his room. The other rooms just took a lot of work. And cleaning. He almost laughed out loud watching Kakuzu on his knees, scrubbing one of the floors but one look from Kakuzu and he quickly scurried off. Once upon a time, he could probably beat Kakuzu fairly easily. This was not the time, however, and he didn't have a death wish. 

"Your fight is today, isn't it?" Sasori asked and Obito nodded with a sigh. He sincerely hoped everything would be okay.

***

Kakashi sat with Minato a few hours before the fight was scheduled. Kakashi was reeling in his mind, trying to figure out whatever it was that Obito was hiding. It wasn't fair, it seemed Rin knew to some extent but she was tight lipped too. And it's nearly impossible to just walk into the Uchiha compound and not get glared at so Kakashi didn't do that either. 

"The only thing I know is someone named Deidara is important to him, I guess and he watched Deidara blow himself up." Kakashi said, sighing. "I don't know when he would've seen that though. I don't even know a Deidara. I'm just... Were we really not paying attention to him that much?"

"I guess so..." Minato sighed. He even got an earful from Kushina about it all. How did he not realize this was coming, and how did he not see Obito changing? She was right. He felt like a shitty sensei and even worse, Kushina was upset about everything too. "Are you going to be alright fighting him?"

"Of course I will." Kakashi said with a stiffened posture. "He's Obito."

"He's changed."

"He's still Obito. And I can fight him."

***

"The fight between Uchiha Obito and Hatake Kakashi will now commence." Minato announced and Obito looked around warily at the crowd that gathered. Sure enough, there were some Uchiha members watching. Probably to see him fail. Well, he wouldn't. Obito has replayed his fights with Kakashi over and over again in his mind. He was able to see his Sharingan memories and go from there. And sparring with Itachi certainly helped, considering Itachi was able to replicate how Kakashi fought as a child. 

Obito and Kakashi formed the solidarity sign with their hands and bowed their heads. Obito made sure to grin at Kakashi. He wanted Kakashi to feel like everything was the same. 

"I'm ready to kick your butt, Bakashi." Obito called teasingly and Kakashi narrowed his eyes and didn't respond.

Just like that the battle started. Obito had to jump back quickly in order to yank his goggles on to stop himself from being punched outright by Kakashi. Once that was done his Sharingan activated and he was able to block every hit Kakashi sent his way. Kakashi seemed to be a one trick pony. All of these moves were already premeditated. He'd used them before. Obito was almost bored but he put on a front as if it were hard to fight him off.

Kakashi must've noticed something because his hits began to get harder and harder. It still wasn't difficult to dodge. 

They seemed so evenly matched. Both punching and blocking everything the other threw their way. Obito sent a swift kick to Kakashi's chest and Kakashi stumbled backwards. It didn't last for long, Kakashi dropped to the ground and attempted to sweep Obito off his feet but Obito flipped backwards, missing Kakashi's leg. 

As the fight went on longer and longer, Kakashi got increasingly more impatient. Obito was gritting his teeth in concentration, but Kakashi could tell he was holding back.

But why?

Why was Obito just managing to keep up with him? Why wouldn't Obito want to overpower him? None of this made sense. Kakashi's mind was reeling with possibilities and he realized he was just making himself angrier. 

Why wasn't Obito fighting him like he meant it?

It had to be the most boring fight to watch because for the past 10 minutes all they had done was dodge attacks and evenly match each other with hand-to-hand combat. Kakashi's patience was wearing incredibly thin.

***

"Do you think he's going to win?" Sasori whispered to Itachi. "Is that his plan?"

"I think he is." Itachi answered with a frown. A few feet away, his mother was standing next to Kushina and Minato and his mother was very immersed in the fight. Itachi even saw her mouth 'come on, Obito' which made Itachi smile. 

"You think the brat can pull this off?" Kakuzu asked, standing next to Sasori. He had changed his appearance and next to him, Hidan was standing, watching the people around him warily.

"Yeah, we've been practicing to make sure he can beat Kakashi but believably. He doesn't want to make it seem like a slaughter, you know." Itachi said and sighed. "But this fight is more boring to watch than it was to perfect."

"It's exciting in a way. Since they're so evenly matched, you don't know who's going to win." Sasori said and then shrugged. "Well, we know who's going to win, but they don't."

"This fight is shit." Kakuzu said flatly and Itachi hated that he agreed. Obito needed to step it up. He wasn't going to become a Jonin because he evenly fought with Kakashi only to win at the last second. Something needed to change.

***

"You're toying with me." Kakashi said finally, while they both braced themselves, holding hands, shoving against each other. "And I don't know why."

"I'm not toying with you, Bakashi." Obito said and smiled. That smile right there was the exact reason Kakashi knew he was being toyed with. If Obito were honestly concentrating, he wouldn't have time to grin like that. Obito ground his teeth tight when he fought hard. 

"Figures you can't even fight to your potential." Kakashi spat. "This is probably why you couldn't save your friend Deidara from blowing himself up." Kakashi knew it was a low blow, he didn't know the story behind it, and he didn't even know what Deidara meant to Obito. And the second the words fell from his lips, Obito's arms went slack and he stared at Kakashi from beyond his goggles. His lips pulled into a frown and Kakashi took that as an opening. He wound his fist back and with all his force, sent a punch to Obito.

Only to end up on the ground.

After he phased through Obito.

Kakashi whipped around and stared wide-eyed at Obito's backside. Obito slowly turned to him and even with the goggle's glass hiding his eyes, Kakashi knew there wasn't a very polite stare behind them. 

"Don't. Speak. Of. Him." Obito grit out and grabbed Kakashi by the neck and threw him across the field. The shift in the mood of the crowd was palpable and Kakashi climbed out of the rubble and got into a fighting stance. 

The next time they clashed, Kakashi didn't do as well as before.

Obito's moves were still calculated. He wasn't fighting in a complete blind rage, just mainly in a rage. Deidara's smile flickered through his mind and he couldn't help feel a lingering sadness that felt better when he was able to punch Kakashi so hard he flew back and put a crater in the wall. 

_"You're not useless after all, hm."_ He could still hear Deidara's voice in his head. He wanted to be anywhere but this fight. He wanted to find Deidara but he knew Deidara wasn't the same. His hot-headed partner that he loved to tease. The partner he let kick his ass nearly every day and wasn't even angry at it. He could still feel Deidara strangling him with his legs and he was dizzy with the thought of Deidara's scent. He could smell the way Deidara's skin smelled. Like fire and clay. _"If I had to guess, it wouldn't be you. Who knew you'd be the one to save me, hm."_

But Obito didn't save Deidara that next time. He let Deidara blow himself up. Why? Because with Infinite Tsukuyomi, he would be able to see Deidara again. He wasn't worried about it.

Then he died. He died and he didn't get to see Deidara with Infinite Tsukuyomi and now he was 13 again fighting his best friend, and no closer to Deidara than he was before. And Obito was livid. 

Making the hand signs for a fireball jutsu, he unleased one that was much too big for what he wanted to do with it. Kakashi threw up a mud wall which was something Obito was expecting. He phased through the mud wall and stood behind Kakashi while Kakashi's eyes were closed, bracing the impact of the jutsu. Obito grabbed Kakashi by the back of the neck and slammed him against his own mud wall.

"Do not. Say his name. Ever again."

The fight from that point wasn't much of a fight as much as just a ruthless slaughter. Obito didn't let up. Each time he tried he just heard Deidara's voice again and he was fairly certain he was going crazy. 

He just had one more hit to land and that would be the end of it. The fight. Perhaps Kakashi's life. He wasn't sure at this point. 

"This fight is over." Minato said, standing in Obito's way obstructing Obito from advancing. Obito looked up at Minato and put his hands down. The fight was over.

Kakashi struggled to stand up and his breathing was choppy. He took quite the beating. He stared at Obito with an expression Obito couldn't place. Obito seemed to stare passed him. Obito bowed his head and held up his hand in the unity sign and walked away. 

"I told you he was hiding something." Kakashi said through jagged breaths. 

"I just don't know what." Minto said frowning. Rin was quickly by Kakashi's side to heal him and sent a look towards Obito who was surrounded by Uchiha clan members, congratulating him on the fight. She didn't fail to notice that he didn't move his goggles up. She could only assume his Sharingan was still activated. 

"Obito..." Rin mumbled and got to work on Kakashi.

***

"You lost control." Kakuzu pointed out gruffly and Obito hung his head.

"I know."

"You were doing so well, what happened?" Itachi asked and Obito covered his face and didn't answer.

"Kakashi said something." Sasori said easily. "I could tell, I just don't know what he said."

"This is probably why you couldn't save your friend Deidara from blowing himself up." Hidan said quietly and Obito's head snapped towards Hidan. How had he heard that? "Sorry. I can hear things." Hidan said and stepped back, feeling flustered from the attention. He was shaking again and Kakuzu sighed and put a hand on Hidan's head, glowing with chakra. Eventually Hidan settled back down. 

"Deidara was bound to blow himself up." Sasori said simply. "Why does that bother you? Everyone always said he was going to die young, likely from blowing himself up." Sasori didn't understand, he was dead by that point.

"I think it's different when you watch someone die." Itachi answered for him and looked at the ground. "I know Kisame died, but I guess it doesn't hurt as much because I didn't see him... How did he die, anyway?"

"You don't want to know." Obito said with a twist of his lips.

"The shark finally died, huh?" Kakuzu asked and for whatever reason the information made Sasori sad. 

"Yeah."

"Please tell me." Itachi asked and looked over at Obito. Obito really didn't want the kid to know but sighed anyway.

"He committed suicide." The defeated look on Itachi's face was the exact reason he didn't want the boy to know how Kisame died. "He had his sharks eat him."

"W-what? Why?" Itachi's eyebrows were pushed together and he looked torn. "Why would he kill himself?"

"He was fighting a losing battle. He didn't want to get captured and be tortured into revealing secrets. So he killed himself." 

"Nobel brat." Kakuzu muttered and Itachi looked down. Even in death, Kisame was a good guy. He just didn't realize it. He was one of the best guys Itachi knew.

***

"So are you going to give Hidan back his ring?" Sasori asked while they sat outside in the dead of night. Everyone else was sleeping.

"Not yet. He isn't ready." Kakuzu responded. "We leave tomorrow for your brat."

"Hm." Sasori nodded and looked ahead. 

***

"Mr. Kakuzu." Kakuzu sighed and looked down. Hidan had a piece of paper and some ink. "You said you were going to show me how to write my name." He said and Kakuzu sighed and nodded. Hidan stood close to the hulking man and stared at his face. Kakuzu realized he never put his mask back on. He was probably scaring the kid, which normally he wouldn't care about, but this was Hidan and the poor kid saw enough. 

Kakuzu reached over to grab his mask but Hidan's tiny hand was placed over Kakuzu's arm. Kakuzu raised an eyebrow and Hidan just smiled.

"I like your face." He admitted and turned away before he could see the slight dumbfounded expression on his partner's face. "So come on, Mr. Kakuzu. What is it?" Kakuzu wasn't exactly sure what had this kid so excited about writing but he wrote Hidan's name out for him anyway. Hidan grabbed the writing implement after and tried his best to copy the name. He handed Kakuzu the brush back. "What's your name, Mr. Kakuzu? How do you spell it?" Kakuzu sighed and wrote his name next to Hidan's and Hidan stared at the two names. "These two look familiar." He pointed to the first characters in both of their names. 

"This," Kakuzu pointed to the first character in Hidan's name. "Means hisha, which is a rook. And this," he pointed to the first character in his own name. "Means kakugyo, it means bishop. They're names in the game-"

"Shogi." Hidan answered. "I saw... people play that game." Hidan continued to stare at the names and he started to practice writing his own name. "I can't read, really." He admitted. 

"I'll teach you." Kakuzu answered simply and Hidan turned to him and smiled.

"You ready to go?" Sasori asked and Kakuzu nodded and stood up. "Alright, well Iwa is slightly closer than Suna so we should be there in at least three days. So we should only be gone for four days at most, right?" Kakuzu nodded and turned to face Hidan who looked very confused.

"Where are you going?" He asked and Kakuzu noticed the trembles in Hidan's hands. 

"We have to get Deidara." Kakuzu answered.

"B-but he's dead?" Hidan asked with a scared expression.

"No. Not yet, anyway." Hidan was more confused than ever. "We'll be back in-"

"No!" Hidan scrambled out of the chair and grabbed Kakuzu's arm. "No-no I'll be good. Just can I go? Please?" Sasori's eyes widened at the way Hidan was freaking out. He knew Hidan was just a child here but he didn't expect Hidan to be so fearful all the time.

"Why? Obito and Itachi will take care of you fine." 

"I just- please? Can I go?"

"No, Hidan. Stay here." Kakuzu demanded and Hidan's shoulders slumped and he looked not only sad, but scared, anxious and just all around defeated.

"O-ok." Kakuzu pulled his arm out of Hidan's grasp and walked over to Sasori. Sasori looked at Hidan's overwhelmed expression and frowned at his traveling partner. He knew Kakuzu wasn't nice, but Hidan needed him right now. Especially if he didn't have his ring. 

"Kakuzu, I think we should bring Hidan..." Sasori said quietly, as to not get the kid's hopes up. 

"The brat should learn he won't always get his way."

"I'm actually fairly positive that isn't what he thinks will happen." Sasori said flatly. "Stop being an ass. You're the only one the kid trusts. He's going to have a damn meltdown."

"He said ok. He seems fine." Sasori gave Kakuzu a dry look. Kakuzu growled at him. "Let's go, Hidan. Get your shit. You have 5 minutes and I'm not carrying any of it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for commenting last chapter! I am blessed!
> 
> It's been a fun ride this chapter. We got some timid Hidan which breaks my soul but don't worry he'll get better soon.(ish?)
> 
> 1) Next chapter will be them getting Deidara, do you see any problems with getting our explody-boi?  
> 2) Despite some protests, Oro WILL be in this story but honestly he does bond with a character. Who do you think that character is?  
> 3) Who do you think Deidara will cling to the most? (Let's go with an adult character and a younger character)  
> 4) We ready to see who will be training Itachi?? (And let's see if you can guess the very obvious WHO is training itachi)
> 
> Anyway, on another note, I started a discord server. If you're interested in joining, go to my tumblr and like the post I made about it and I'll send you a link. We've been taking characters from the Akatsuki and a few from Naruto. (So far everyone in the Akatsuki besides Pein and Konan are taken. Other than that we also have Naruto and Gaara.) So come on and join!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Sorry about that. I've been going through some thing sand haven't really had inspiration in a while but I pushed through to get this chapter out. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Stark** : I'm so glad you liked last chapter and I hope you enjoy this chapter too. Sorry you had to wait so long!  
>  **sakeamara** : I'm happy you liked the counter scene. I love Kakuzu. He's my bae. Thank you for your responses to the questions!  
>  **RelenaDuo** : Hidan is the sweetheart we didn't know we needed. And nah, kidnapping Dei was surprisingly easy. There will be more drama though later on.  
>  **Vivi** : Unfortunately, Deidara was pretty easy to kidnap. That's because another character will be much more difficult to kidnap and I didn't want to break your hearts twice lol. Baby Deidara will be wonderful soon enough.  
>  **Edipo** : God I'm so excited for Kisame I'm dying but he won't be here for a few more chapters, unfortunately. Eventually all the secrets will be revealed, for now, fluff.  
>  **KukoGrande** : There will be more TobiDei moments soon to come! I don't like Sasori because I thought he was irritating and I hate Sakura and he got killed by her so that kind of lowers my opinion of him significantly lol. Don't worry, none of that will show in the story. Sasori is quite fun in this story!  
>  **SweetAlphaChild** : I'm so glad you also can't see the chemistry with SasoDei. For the most part Sasori treated Deidara like an inconvenience. I'm excited to add more things with Rin and Obito but for now I'm just getting all the characters together. Itachi is a sweetie and so is Hidan. I'm glad you liked the battle, I thought I did a terrible job lol. I hope you love Deidara this chapter, he's not in much of it but he's here!  
>  **MelonLordOfMelon** : Man, I really missed an opportunity for that, huh? He'll have to start a betting pool for Itachi's exam lol.  
>  **ViviCatLover** : I mean Oro will bond with Kakuzu at some point but that is not who I had in mind! lol  
>  **Raisa+Islam** : We got a hint at getting Konan and Nagato this chapter! I hope you like it.  
>  **GwendolynStacy** : I'm happy I got to see your reactions upon finding the story! Glad you liked it! Luckily Obito didn't have to explain it this chapter, but he will next chapter. He thinks he's in the clear but ya know, I'm an asshole. Pein Konan and Yahiko should be in the fic at some point, I'm sure you'll notice the hint we got at it! (And btw you mentioned I should respond individually, the reason I don't is because I don't want my comment count to go up because I'm responding to comments so I do it up here! I only respond in the comments if I really need to) Enjoy the next chapter!  
>  **DaarRena** : I love when you write me novels, my dear! I believe Hidan is one of the best characters (I may be biased lol) but Hidan is awesome. I don't think he's dumb at all. He's smart when he wants to be. I also think he wants to be liked more than he admits but his personality is just too brash and he chases people away. Plus he thinks mindless murder is wrong and wasteful, they should only be sacrificed for his lord and only if Hidan can feel the pain they're in... idk I just love Hidan I could talk about him all day. Anyway, Hidan will have his genjutsu scythe in this story! He's going to train with some really brilliant people so we'll get to see him grow up slightly differently. He'll still be a loudmouth and curse a lot but he'll be incredibly intelligent thanks to his mentors! I hinted at this chapter that he's a very determined child. Next chapter we'll see more of the developing relationships with everyone since no one new will be introduced until later. So that will be fun.  
>  **ChaveLink** : That would be funny for Deidara to get attached to Kakashi. I can see Obito's head rolling! lol. Thank you so much!!  
>  **CC** : Thank you dear! I'm so happy you liked the fight scene. I was unsure about it! Thank you again!  
>  **TreeSmart** : Aww Kisame get's his own mentor but he will spar with Itachi a lot later on! Oro will be a surprisingly positive influence on the story, don't worry about it!

Chapter Six:

"What do you suppose that was about?" Hiruzen asked Minato the next day in his office. Minato knew exactly what the Hokage was talking about and sighed.

"I'm unsure. Obito has been acting differently for about a month. He's been training a lot with Itachi too."

"How curious that the Uchiha clan is acting this way..." Danzo tutted and Orochimaru stared curiously. 

"Are you insinuating something?" He asked and Minato glared at the elder. 

"Obito and Itachi aren't doing anything nefarious. They're just training extra hard."

"Interesting that you would say that considering Obito just completely destroyed your favorite pupil." Danzo said and Minato glared heavily.

"That is not true. All of my students are great in their own way. I don't favor any over the other." He said and Orochimaru frowned at Danzo.

"Quite true. One cannot pick favorites." 

"You're just saying that because you haven't got yourself a team yet. Everyone has a favorite, whether or not they say it is another thing." Danzo scoffed and Orochimaru smiled at Hiruzen.

"Is this true, Hiruzen-Sensei?" He asked in lilt of a tease. 

"I cared for each one of my team members equally, but differently. And they all have followed different paths and when I don't see them for a while I miss them." He said honestly and Orochimaru frowned. 

"You're speaking of Tsunade and Jiraiya." He said and Hiruzen sighed and looked out of the window. 

"Speaking of Tsunade..." Minato started slowly and that garnered the attention of Orochimaru and Hiruzen. "I was speaking with Rin, as you know, she's a training medical ninja. She said she believes that Uchiha Itachi has been training medical ninjutsu with her. Apparently he would like to become a medic ninja."

"...Are you thinking...?"

"That perhaps Tsunade may come back if she has a purpose? And maybe that purpose could be to help ensure every squad has a trained medic on their team? And train the greatest prodigy of the Uchiha clan? Yes. That's exactly what I was thinking." Minato said seriously. He noticed the gleam in Orochimaru's eyes. Hiruzen looked curiously at Orochimaru.

"What do you say? Think you can get Jiraiya to assist you in bringing the Princess back?" Orochimaru's eyes widened a fraction and he gave a slow nod.

"So we're just going to give the Uchiha more training?" Danzo asked and Orochimaru gave him a glance but said nothing else to him.

"I'm going to go find Jiraiya." Orochimaru said with finality. 

***

Traveling with Hidan was much less stressful than Kakuzu had initially assumed it would be. He was quick on his feet, even now. He didn't say anything and when they walked for longer than a 5-year-old should, he didn't complain about his feet hurting. It was almost annoying with what a great child Hidan was, in all honesty. He wasn't sure why it made him so angry that Hidan was such a good kid. 

While they were walking, Sasori made it his mission to as Hidan questions to figure out where his education level was at. It gave Kakuzu quite the headache to realize that Hidan never went to any school and his intelligence level was extremely low. What he lacked in intelligence, he made up for in dedication. He was very thankful for Sasori's attempts at teaching him things and concentrated hard. He became so proud of himself when he answered a question right, Kakuzu couldn't find it in him to be angry that they were travelling much slower than they should've been.

Seeing Sasori tutor Hidan while they walked was interesting compared to the irritated, uncaring Sasori he knew from the past... future? And then Hidan was just there trying his best to repeat everything Sasori taught him. He soaked up the attention, although he had a death grip on Kakuzu's arm that he hadn't let off of since they left the village. 

The few times they stopped to rest and Kakuzu hunted game and cooked it over the fire, Hidan had been reluctant to eat it. Kakuzu was curious as to why but later realized that Hidan just went without food so long he felt undeserving of it. Sasori managed to force feed the child and they were able to go on. 

During the second day of traveling, Kakuzu decided to begin his trainings with Hidan and teach him basic things like chakra control. Hidan was curious about it and spent essentially the rest of the day attempting to master his chakra control by keeping a leaf to his forehead with only his chakra. It didn't work and it kept falling but he was adamant about getting things done.

Sasori mentioned that maybe his full chakra reserves weren't opened yet since he never had to use it so later that night when they settled down to rest, Sasori had Hidan put his hands into Sasori's and they closed their eyes. Using Sasori's chakra, he reached into Hidan's body through the tips of his fingers. Hidan flailed back at the sudden intrusion and shook his head vehemently at Sasori. Sasori frowned and turned to Kakuzu.

"You're going to have to do it." He said and Kakuzu looked confused. Sasori had to admit, it was strange seeing Kakuzu without his mask, primarily because he never assumed Kakuzu had an expressive face. But man, he certainly did. 

"What?" He snapped slightly, his lips curling down. "I don't even know what you're doing."

"I'm trying to reach in with my chakra to nudge his own chakra reserve open. He doesn't like the feel of my chakra which is... understandable. So we need yours." Kakuzu's frown deepened and he glared over at Hidan who seemed embarrassed for whatever reason. "It will take a minute. It's how I manipulated chakra with the human puppets I created. You have to get to the core of their chakra." Kakuzu grit his teeth and Sasori moved from sitting in front of Hidan and gestured for Kakuzu to sit. Kakuzu did so reluctantly and took Hidan's hands in his, pouting about it the entire time. "Now close your eyes and feel your chakra reach into Hidan's body-"

"Would you just shut up?" Kakuzu snapped. "You sound like a damned therapist." Sasori frowned and put his hands up defensively with an eye roll. Kakuzu's chakra burned Hidan's hands but he felt himself welcoming the burn. It was much different than Sasori's chakra feel. Kakuzu's chakra was so confusing. It felt like so many things at once. 

Hidan forced himself to sit still while the line of chakra shot up his arms and straight to his core. Kakuzu went through the process much faster than Sasori did. It felt like his insides had rug burn and Hidan twitched in his seat uncomfortably. 

"Can you feel it, brat?" Kakuzu asked and Hidan gave a tentative nod. "Let your chakra out." He said and Hidan pressed his lips tightly together and concentrated on the burning feeling by his heart. Once he was able to let go, he felt a rush of warmth flood his body and he smiled. He could feel his chakra. He smiled warmly, looking at his arms, now able to feel the chakra running through. Kakuzu frowned, unimpressed. "You don't have much chakra at all."

"Oh?" Hidan's expression faltered and his cheeks turned red.

"That doesn't mean anything." Sasori chided with his arms crossed. "You should know that, Kakuzu."

"Hm." Kakuzu's eyes narrowed and he stood up and stalked away. Sasori frowned at the retreating form of Kakuzu and sat a few feet away from Hidan. He tossed Hidan a leaf, which Hidan caught awkwardly. 

"Get back to training." He said with a smirk. Hidan smiled shyly and pressed the leaf to his forehead again, this time with a new sense of purpose, he had to prove his worth to Kakuzu.

***

"Wait, what?" Obito blinked owlishly at Minato. 

"Why is it so important to you?" Minato asked with a laugh. "You aren't even a swordsman."

"S-still." Obito stuttered out. "They're coming here for the competition?" Obito's smile stretched across his face. "That's amazing!"

"Whoa, Obito, I had no idea you held such high regards for bukijutsu or swordsmanship." Minato said with a tilt of his head. "You never seemed interested before."

"That was different, sensei!" Obito jumped up from his seat and he just couldn't contain his excitement. 

"Good ole' Obito." Rin said fondly and Obito smiled at her. 

Things were strange the past few days with his team. They seemed wary of him but at the same time they were trying to figure him out more. He knew he shouldn't have lost control as he had but there wasn't anything he could do about it now.

Now he was waiting on Deidara to be brought back to the village so that was already enough excitement for him. To see Deidara again. Even as a baby. Now? Now, Minato-sensei was saying Kirigakure was coming to Konohagakure? Could that mean Kisame was coming?

"Wait. Why is Kiri coming here anyway? Like who started this?" Kakashi asked from the side. Obito glanced over at Kakashi, he hadn't looked at Kakashi in a while, he seemed fine, Obito still felt bad for completely destroying him in the fight, he honestly didn't mean to.

"Well it started years ago when the Legendary Sannin were still a team." Minato began and Obito frowned at that. The only Sannin that really knew how to wield a sword, was- "Orochimaru was a master swordsman. He could likely fight against any of the 7 swordsmen of the Mist, and honestly no one would be too surprised if he won. Since then, Kiri has set their sights on him, despite him being from another village. They've had a strange fondness for our village since then, believing we could produce another master swordsman as Orochimaru. Things have been crazy with the war going around but Orochimaru spoke with Hokage-sama about trying to form an alliance with Kiri. And what better thing to do, than to sort of give them what they've been after? So we’ve invited them to come here and... have a tournament of sorts."

"Is there a roster?" Obito asked quickly and Minato raised an eyebrow.

"Are... you planning on joining?"

"No, I was just wondering who was going to be there..." Obito said and looked at the ground, trying to contain himself. He forgot just what an excitable kid he was. This was going to get frustrating if he couldn't keep his cool. 

"Well, this won't take place until Orochimaru gets back from his mission and it's not known when exactly that's going to be. I'll let you know once the roster gets put up, alright?" Obito nodded and grinned at his sensei. "Alright everyone, great work today. Obito, I'm going to need you to come with me, ok?" Obito nodded curiously and bid farewell to his teammates. Kakashi had already left by that point and Obito frowned. He wondered if they would ever be actual teammates or not. Kakashi seemed to hate him more now that he knew Obito was a better fighter than when he thought Obito couldn't fight at all.

"What is it, Minato-sensei?" Obito asked and put his hands in his pockets. 

"Well, well, well. Look who it is." Obito whirled around and saw Kushina staring at them with a cheeky smile, holding a picnic basket.

"What do you want?" He asked and made a show of looking at the basket. "Lunch was hours ago. You're a bit late in your old age." He teased and she glared at him and Minato laughed awkwardly.

"I'm going to let you get a free pass with that just one comment, considering it's a day to celebrate." Kushina said, scowling. 

"What are we celebrating?" Obito asked and Kushina opened the basket and tossed something at Obito. He caught it and felt the fabric under his fingertips. He unfolded the cloth and grinned.

"Really!?"

"Yup. Congratulations, Obito. You're officially a jonin." 

***

"Here we are." Sasori said with an unimpressed sigh. "Now it's time to find Deidara." He said and Kakuzu frowned at the gate. They were more alert in this village so he wasn't sure if he was able to get in undetected.

It would be hard to actually fight at all with Hidan standing right by his hip. If he thought the damned zealot was clingy at 22, he proved to be even clingier at 5. It was strange that Hidan even found himself attached to Kakuzu anyway.

"If only Itachi were here." Sasori said with a frown. "He'd be able to put them under a genjutsu and we'd be able to pass no problem." Kakuzu grumbled. They could summon Itachi, but he felt that it wouldn't be a good waste of chakra. He went all out and just grabbed the guards using his threads and knocking them out. "Great job, now no one will guess someone snuck in the village." Sasori said dryly and Kakuzu glared at him.

"Shut the hell up and let's go before we're spotted." Hidan nervously clung to Kakuzu's sleeve and they quickly made their way through the gates.

"Can you search for Deidara's chakra?" Sasori looked at Kakuzu and sighed.

"I'm not sure if he has enough chakra to sense but I'll try." Sasori said. The three of them walked around quickly, all while Sasori carefully sensed all the chakra he could feel. If anyone knew the feel of Deidara's chakra, it would be Sasori.

"Do you know how he grew up?" Kakuzu asked and Sasori rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, because we had so many heart-to-hearts, Deidara and me. Tell me again how your partner grew up, Kakuzu." Sasori snapped in response and Kakuzu glared. 

"Well maybe it would've helped us find the brats quicker." Sasori paused. "What?"

"Wait. I do remember... He said something about being an orphan. He also mentioned the Mizukage taking a liking to him when he was younger. So he's either... an orphan, or with the Tsuchikage." Hidan just stared completely confused at the way they were talking, none of this made sense but he wasn't even sure what to say. 

"Do they have orphanages here?"

"Well, Kakuzu, I don't think they'd just put a baby in an apartment by himself so I'm going with yes." Sasori responded and Kakuzu gave him a dirty look. 

***

"Itachi, you're really improving." Itachi glanced up to see his father and smiled.

"Thank you, father." He bowed his head. "I'm trying."

"I can see that." Fugaku said, smiling for once. "I also couldn't help but notice how advanced you were. You say you're doing extensive training with Obito?" Itachi nodded his head vigorously. "Pull up your goggles, let me see you." Itachi quickly blinked away his Sharingan and pulled up his goggles to look at his father better. "I think that we could probably get you to skip the entire academy. What do you say? Would you like that?" Itachi grinned at his dad. 

"That would be really cool, but I'm not sure I'm that good." He said, with false modesty. 

"I'm going to talk to the Hokage about it now. Perhaps we can get you through the academy exam and you could get yourself a genin team. Although, I think you're even more talented than a simple genin." Fugaku praised and Itachi's face warmed. It was nice to be praised by his father but it was all so... strange. To see his father right there after all this time. 

"You flatter me, father." Itachi said and Fugaku chuckled.

"Why don't you go inside and spend time with your mother. I know she's been worrying about you but doesn't want to disrupt your training. Think you can spare some time for her?" Itachi nodded his head vigorously. He'd been so distracted by trying to bring himself back up to speed with his previous power, he completely forgot that he could now spend time with his mother. "Good boy. I'll see you later, I'm heading to work."

"Good luck at work, father." Fugaku waved his arm as he walked away and Itachi stared in the direction of his house. He'd been meaning to speak with his mother anyway.

Walking at a brisk pace, to his house, he noticed the front door was opened. His mom liked to do that while she was cleaning. He wandered inside and saw not only his mom, but Kushina right next to her. They were sitting in the living room and talking with tea.

"Oh, hi honey, how was training?" Mikoto asked sweetly and Kushina turned to look at him. 

"He's getting so big!" Kushina said, smiling.

"I know." Mikoto responded with a pout. "My baby."

"Training was okay." Itachi said and his mother motioned for him to come over. "I just wanted to see you."

"Oh." His mom put her hand over her heart with a pleased smile. "You are the sweetest boy, aren't you, Itachi?" She kissed his forehead once he was close enough and ran her fingers through his hair. "Your hair is getting quite long, did you want to cut-"

"-No." He interjected quickly and she giggled.

"Okay, fine." She teased and Itachi glanced over at Kushina.

"Hey Itachi." Kushina said with a sly smile. "How's all that training with Obito? I rarely see the kid anymore."

"That's probably Itachi's fault." Mikoto said fondly. "He's very taken with Obito. A role model of sorts." She said and poked his goggles. Itachi's face burned and he pouted slightly looking away from his mom. Having people think Obito was his role model was extremely embarrassing but there was nothing he could do about it. They needed some reason for Itachi to hang around him like a lost dog. 

"Speaking of Obito..." Kushina said, grinning. "Did you hear? He made Jonin!" Mikoto covered her mouth with surprise. "I know! Minato and I are super proud of him."

"Look at that honey, a Jonin." Mikoto started and then smiled. "Maybe he'll be your sensei." She said and poked Itachi's nose. Itachi couldn't portray how much he didn't want that.

***

"This is an orphanage?" Sasori asked quietly. They managed to sneak in one of the upper windows without being seen. It wasn't on a very good side of the village. "It's so quiet. I thought we'd hear crying babies or something."

"You saying Deidara would be a loud baby?" Kakuzu asked and Sasori gave him a side glance. They watched Hidan look curiously around the building and wondered if it was because he stayed in a house similar. He quickly navigated his ways through the hall until he found himself in front of a door. He pushed it open with a sense of purpose and Kakuzu and Sasori followed close behind.

Behind the door was a room filled with several cribs. A few of them were occupied, some empty. The room was silent. Sasori felt a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach and he walked around the room to check on the state of the babies. 

The walls were a faded wood that had clearly seen better days. The decay of it was prominent and the corners of the ceiling were speckled with mold. The air in the room felt musty and the windows were sealed shut. The floors creaked loudly with each step. The sound reverberated off of the bare walls and made them wince with the sudden sound of loudness pierce through the silence of the room.

"They're alive." He said quietly, but that was even more peculiar. "Why aren't they making any noise. They're just laying here staring at the ceiling. I thought babies cry."

"They do." Hidan said quietly and walked over to a crib, this baby had golden hair. For whatever reason, Hidan felt a connection with him. Hidan's eyes scanned the body of the small child who laid on the crib mattress staring at the ceiling, not even realizing someone was there. "Babies cry so people get them. So they aren't lonely." He peered into the crib and a pair of blue eyes stared back at him. "But you stop crying when you know no one is listening." Sasori turned to Kakuzu with a look.

"Sasori, we're not adopting three babies, you can forget it."

"You're heartless."

"On the contrary, I have several hearts."

"Next time steal one that gives you sentimentality," Sasori responded and Kakuzu raised an eyebrow.

"Humanity doesn't look good on you, Sasori, I preferred you as a puppet." He said simply and walked over to the crib Hidan was staying at. "Look at that, you found Deidara." Kakuzu said and Hidan glanced up. His arm was in-between the crib bars and he was holding on to Deidara's arm. Sasori walked over to the crib quickly and looked over to get a glance at his old partner. 

"God, Deidara. You look exactly the same." He whispered.

"He might as well have been a baby when he was recruited." Kakuzu responded and Sasori nodded. Kakuzu scooped the baby up and the baby was obviously startled. 

"I want to hold him!" Hidan said with wide eyes. "Can I hold him?" There was something strange about the way Hidan was staring at Deidara. His voice wavered with emotions and his eyes shone with a strange sense of passion.

"Hidan, calm down." Kakuzu said sternly and Hidan bit his lip hard but tears sprung in his eyes.

"Why are you crying?" Sasori asked and Hidan shrugged.

"H-he's lonely. I want... I want to hold him." 

"You can hold him after we get back." Kakuzu said and turned to Sasori. 

"How are we doing this? You can't do hand signals while holding a baby and there's now four of us. I'm not so sure we'll fit in the closet this time." Sasori said and Kakuzu glanced down at Hidan. He grabbed Hidan tightly by his shirt and hoisted him up and placed him on Sasori's shoulders. Sasori's legs buckled under the sudden weight.

"You need to work out those string bean legs of yours." Kakuzu said dryly and Sasori glared. Kakuzu handed Sasori the baby and now Sasori was shaking slightly with all the weight. Kakuzu did the proper hand signals and they teleported back to Obito's closet.

***

Obito sprung to action when he heard loud noises coming from his bedroom and Itachi followed after him quickly. Obito flung the door opened and saw the tiny face of Deidara staring at him from Sasori's hold.

"He's so tiny!" Obito shouted and Deidara winced at the noise.

"You scared him, shut up." Kakuzu snapped and Obito pressed his lips together tightly and nodded.

"Sorry..."

"So did you get everything we need?" Obito looked awkwardly at Itachi.

"Yeah, it was quite awkward trying to find a crib though without someone asking too many questions. I asked one of the elders I help and she got me one and then congratulated me on becoming a father, then asked me how old I was and then freaked out because I'm too young to be a father. It took quite some time before she believed me that I didn't knock up some poor girl." 

"Yeah..." Itachi said with a smile. "It was pretty funny."

"Shut up or I'll tell everyone what you did." Obito threatened and Itachi glared up at him and Sasori raised an eyebrow.

"What did he do?"

"Why am I not surprised you were the first person to ask?" Itachi said flatly and Sasori shrugged uselessly and Obito made several strides across the room and scooped the baby up from Sasori's arms with a 1,000-watt grin.

"Hey, Deidara-senpai." He whispered. "It's Tobi." The eyes looked back at him hollowly and he felt a curl in his stomach that made him want to vomit. "Why are his eyes like that?"

"Can I hold him now?" Hidan asked and Kakuzu took the baby from Obito's hold, only being able to take him from a lapse in Obito's mind. Kakuzu pointed to the bed and Hidan smiled and climbed onto Obito's bed and Kakuzu handed the baby to Hidan and Hidan held Deidara closely. Sasori took the moment to explain to Obito what happened.

"Extreme neglect. He seems fed and his diaper isn't soiled so my guess is minimal contact with the babies. Just enough to keep them alive. It doesn't seem like he cries either." Sasori said, frowning, staring at Hidan hold Deidara close to his body and Deidara just stayed there unmoving. Obito's eyebrows curved up and his expression showed his anguish. 

"Don't worry, Obito." Itachi said after a beat or two of silence. "I'm sure we can spoil him."

***

"So... who exactly is going to show us how to change a diaper?" Obito asked the room, holding Deidara.

"I can do it." Itachi said simply.

"Me too." Hidan offered quietly. 

"You can change a diaper?" Kakuzu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, when I was allowed in the orphanage I used to do it all the time..." Hidan started to trail off and got a strange zoned out expression. 

"We should give him a bath." Sasori said. "From the looks of his hair, they didn't really bathe him as much as wipe him down with a cloth." Obito felt another pang of sadness and held Deidara a bit tighter than before. The warmth of his tiny body doing little to soothe him. 

"Bath time for the children." Obito announced and Itachi and Hidan stared at him. "You two are small. We can't lean over the tub for that long to hold him."

"Come on!" Itachi grumbled. "Why do I keep having to bathe with people? Am I going to bathe with Kisame next?"

"You'd like that you little pervert, wouldn't you?" Obito said with a smirk and Itachi's face turned beet read quickly.

"I knew it..." Sasori muttered and Itachi shook his head embarrassed and quickly fled the room. "You should've taken me up on that bet, Kakuzu."

"Why? So I could lose money?"

"You were that sure they had a thing?"

"Tch. Please. Everyone was that sure." He scoffed and Obito nearly giggled and went to the bathroom with Deidara.

Hidan was surprisingly helpful. He seemed to really take a liking to Deidara which was nice because now he put all that shyness aside and focused on Deidara instead. He was more gentle than anyone thought he could be and he liked to have conversations with Deidara about everything. Itachi didn't even need to join them, even if he did, Hidan would likely not allow him to be near the baby. 

"I'm so glad we figured out Hidan is a mother." Sasori said to Kakuzu, standing in the doorway. Kakuzu smirked.

"Wait until he gets his memories back."

"When are you going to give him the ring back anyway?" Sasori asked quietly and Kakuzu stared at the tiny smile from Hidan as he explained something to Deidara and washed his hair while Obito sat on the floor next to the tub.

"I'm not sure. He's only five."

"Yeah I can't imagine a 5-year-old running around making religious sacrifices. That doesn't seem right... That's an activity saved for 6-year-olds."

"There's the quip I was waiting for." Kakuzu responded and Sasori chuckled and walked away. "Where are you going?"

"I want to see what pajamas we have for the kid." Kakuzu glanced at the trio one more time and then nodded and followed. "And since Obito got it, I'm guessing it's all a disaster."

"If I need to go clothes shopping with his money, so be it." Kakuzu said simply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I want to thank all the commenters who liked the Obito Kakashi fight scene because I thought it sucked because I can't write fight scenes so I'm glad you all liked it!  
> To answer your questions, I kind of hinted at this, but Orochimaru will be the mentor of _Kisame_ because of the sword fighting. They will bond.  
>  1)Can anyone guess who Jiraiya will end up training?  
> 2) who is your favorite character so far?  
> 3) Which person do you think that isn't an Akatsuki member, will be the first to discover Obito's house for wayward criminals?
> 
> Thats all for today, I'm burnt out. This chapter took a lot out of me. Sorry guys! I hope you enjoyed. I'm not sure when I'll update again, I'll try to be quick but like I said, I'm not mentally feeling well.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This has some plot but mainly fluff. I'm just so unsure what to write with everything it's just a lot of trying to figure out what is going on. 
> 
> We meet some new characters
> 
> We even see Kisame :')

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Vivi** : Thank you my dear! I'm feeling better. I hope the chapter is okay!  
>  **DonKoogrr** : Aww I'mso happy you do. And right you are. Kakashi gets a bit more interested in things this chapter.  
>  **GwendolynStacy** : Thank youuuu. Your comment makes me happy to read. Especially because you're learning my love of Hidan  
>  **sparrow_hawk13** : Yes, Orochimaru has a decent part this chapter!  
>  **MelonLordOfMelon** : I love Itachi and his obvious crush on the shark boi tbh  
>  **Trashmouth_Tozier** : Love your Thomas Sanders pic btw. And thank you my dear! :)  
>  **YAOI_shipsFreak** : Kakashi is in this chapter figuring some shit out so Ihope you like it.  
>  **RelenaDuo** : omg I can't wait for Jiraiya to show up. I love him.  
>  **Lilymoncat** : I absolutely love Kakuzu and you have the perfect description of him. And yeah technically it's Rin. Poor Rin is feeling left out this chapter.  
>  **CC** : Yass I love baby Deidara. He's more happy this chapter so look out for cuteness;)  
>  **sakaemara** : Itachi is just a precious bean tbh. And yeah I had to give my boys sad back stories. We have more oro this chapter and obviously more itachi so enjoy that.  
>  **AlmaDescompuesta** : I am happy that you do bb  
>  **TreeSmart** : God I'm pumped to write Kisame getting his memories back. And I'm KisaIta trash too. I don't like Sasori much but I do like him in this story. kind of like a completely done older brother.  
>  **Raisa+Islam** :Yesss Orochimaru will be training a few people in this story. Hidan won't get his memoriesback for a while, but it won't be for lack of trying!  
>  **Lady Aniola** : Thank you :) I try  
>  **40011** : sorry to keep you waiting, I hope it;s everything you wanted and more.  
>  **glitteratii** : Thank you honey!  
>  **SweetAlphaChild** : I missed this story too tbh. Rin needs to have more strength. I didn't think about the contracts yet, but that's a good idea. I'm unsure who would get what contract. Oro is a good guy in this story, don't worry. Dei is a sweetie pie this chapter.   
> **sslytherinsbitch** : have I mentioned I'm a slytherin too? idk if I did. Anyway, I'm glad you like the story and I hope you continue to enjoy that. I'm happy to see you're enjoying all the characters. I shop KakuHida too. I have so many ships with Hidan actually idk what I'm doing with my life. But my friend is reading this and she wants kakaobi so there will be kakaobi eventually.  
>  **Luna** : Thank you! I adore Kakuzu and Hidan, they're my favorites. I would never brush them off. I try to get a good chunk of people together at all times. I want everyone to have their own thing going on because it makes the story more interesting. I'm happy you like it. More Kakuzu in this chapter ;)  
>  **EpicJay** : It might take them a while of Kakashi being a total dickback to realize, but Obito will make Kakashi softer eventually!  
>  **Hidanscrazylaugh** :I need me a man like Kakuzu too, damn. (this is where I would put the eye tongue eye emoji)  
>  **CasJeanne** : Thank you. Hidan is the cutest so I'm glad you think so too  
>  **Bleeb90** :I'm glad to hear that! I hope you like this chapter!  
>  **Officer_Jennie** : Kisame is in this chapter!! Enjoy!  
>  **hoshigayki** : that's pretty depressing, so thanks for that. And I'm trying to get kakaobi rolling soon!!  
>  **Viknikisbae** : Hahaha... I will update 3 months after you asked me. Sorry. Hopefully next time won't be as long  
>  **Dmitri_Eviel** : I don't abandon my stories. It sometimes takes a few months, but I love this story.  
>  **AllroundYaoiFangirl** : Thank you dear!  
>  **Anaelyssa** : I hope you enjoy the super late update!

Chapter Seven:

"Kakashi!" Obito greeted loudly and quickly walked out of the house, closing the door behind him. "What are you doing here?" 

"You've been acting strange and I was done trying to figure out why on my own or waiting for you to gush about it so here I am, asking." Kakashi said flatly and Obito frowned. He didn't think he was acting too strangely but whatever. "So what's your problem lately?"

"I don't have one." Obito said, irritated. "And I'd appreciate you not coming to my house and treating me like I'm a criminal or something." Kakashi arched a brow. 

"What? I'm just acting why you're being weird. I never said anything about you acting like a criminal. Should I?" Obito huffed.

"Bakashi, I'm busy making dinner, I don't have time for this." He said and his eyes fell onto Itachi. "Hey. You're here early."

"Yeah, my mom told me I could eat with you so here I am." Itachi looked up at Kakashi. "Hello Kakashi-senpai." He greeted and Obito's eyes narrowed and pouted. He hated that Itachi did that. Young Kakashi was such a tool. "I'm just gonna..." Itachi pointed to the door and walked passed Obito and snuck inside. Obito sighed again.

"I'm going to go make sure he doesn't set my house on fire. Goodbye, Bakashi." Obito said seriously and walked inside and shut the door. He jumped when he saw Kakuzu standing so closely with his arms crossed and a cautious look on his face. 

"We need a different place to stay." He said seriously and Obito didn't want to agree, but he knew that this wasn't safe for them. He nodded slowly. "You still know wood style?" He asked and Obito shrugged his shoulders uselessly. "Time to check. Once we find a decent place around here but not too close. Although Hidan may want to play at the park here so you or Itachi better bring him." He warned and Obito smiled."Don't read into that, brat." Kakuzu stalked away and Obito couldn't help but think about what strange things happened with his life. 

***

Obito and Itachi snuck out one day with Hidan and Deidara. They'd been cooped up for so long and if they could just get to the park, they would be able to play without anyone wondering who's children they were. 

When they made it, Hidan stared at the playground with wide eyes. He walked around, admiring everything. Itachi decided it was up to him to show Hidan how to actually play with things and Obito watched as they climbed all over everything like the tiny ninja they were.

Obito sat in the sandbox with Deidara situated between his legs showing him how to use the shovel and various other toys. It was hard to engage Deidara into doing much of anything, he didn't seem very responsive but when Deidara grabbed the shovel, Obito's heart melted just looking at the small stubby fingers around the object. 

"Good job, Dei!" He complimented and clapped. He then grabbed Deidara's hands and showed him how to clap. "Yay!" He cheered and Deidara giggled at it. Obito couldn't wipe the smile off his face. "Yes, Dei. Smile. Laugh. Know you're cared about." Obito kissed the top of Deidara's head several times just listening to the melodic giggle and wanting to cry at how cute he was. 

"You left without me." Obito glanced up and saw a displeased Sasori. He sat in the sand with no regard for his clothes getting dirty but Obito realized he was from the sand village so that made sense. 

"I didn't think you wanted to go. I thought you were staying with Kakuzu." Obito said with a frown and Sasori started to pile up the sand and Deidara watched with curious eyes. 

"Of course I wanna get out. That house is torture. I'm gonna hang myself with my own chakra strings if I have to stay there any longer."

"You can go back to Suna." Obito said with a glare and pout. To his surprise, Sasori smiled at him. 

"Nah. I'm good here." He said simply and Obito smirked slightly and the three of them went back to playing with the sand. 

Hearing the high pitched shrieks of delight from the children playing and knowing Hidan and Itachi were some of the reason behind it, made Obito smile even wider.They were finally acting like children. And it was great to hear Hidan enjoy himself.

"What are you brats doing?" Kakuzu asked as he loomed over Sasori, Obito and Deidara. 

"Playing." Obito and Sasori said in unison, innocently and he gave them a look and Obito smiled widely. Kakuzu rolled his eyes. 

"What are you doing out of the house?" Obito asked curiously. Kakuzu had his mask on and his skin was covered so no one could see his kekkei genkai so that wasn't the problem.

"If I stay in that goddamn apartment for 3 more minutes, I'm going to hang myself with my own jutsu." 

"Wow. I didn't think my house was that bad, but thanks a bunch." Kakuzu ignored him and looked around the playground. "Hidan is on the swings, he's fine."

"I wasn't looking for that brat-"

"Yes you were." Sasori interjected, continuing to pile up his sand in front of Deidara who tapped it with his tiny shovel. Kakuzu didn't grace that with a response. "So, Obito, when will you create our new house?"

"Why is it up to me? You can build things. You made puppets and shit, right?" Sasori perked an eyebrow.

"With dead bodies. Hardly a good housing material." Sasori said nonchalantly and Obito scoffed.

"Point proven." 

***

"This is where it'll be?" Obito asked, turning to Kakuzu. It was a clearing quite a bit away from the village, but not ridiculously far. It wasn't travelled much so they shouldn't have anyone bump into them by mistake. Kakuzu nodded and Obito sighed. "Okay, but I'm not sure if I can still do wood release or not." Obito warned and Kakuzu shrugged. Obito frowned at that and nodded. 

Making a few hand signs, he looked warily at Kakuzu.

"Wood release: Four pillar house." He slammed his hand down and was surprised when it actually worked. His eyes widened and he looked down at his hands. Kakuzu sighed in relief. It wasn't much, but at least they could walk around outside. Now he just needed to get some appliances.

"Oh thank the lord." Sasori fell to his knees, basically worshipping the new house. He never hated a house like he hated Obito's house. It was so crowded and they could rarely leave.

"Can we plant a flower, Mr. Kakuzu?" Hidan asked, tugging gently on Kakuzu's pants. Kakuzu looked down at the bright purple eyes, Hidan was even feeling relaxed enough to smile shyly up at him and he stared for longer than he would've before. Hidan was a cute kid.

"Only if they're free and useful." He said a second later and Hidan beamed and clapped his hands which in turn made Deidara start clapping, from Kakuzu's arms. It was a strange feeling in that moment as Kakuzu looked down at the tiny baby in his arms and the small 5 year old in front of him. 

He felt at peace.

***

"Obito, it's been a while." Rin said softly and Obito glance up and looked at Rin. She smiled sweetly at him and he grinned back. She sat next to him on the bench and tucked a tuft of hair behind her ear.

"It has. How are you?" Obito asked and she shrugged. "Hows Bakashi?" She laughed cutely and started swinging her legs back and forth, unable to touch the ground below. 

"I'm good. I don't see Kakashi much. He's distracted... With you." Her eyes flickered up to Obito and he stared at her, unable to know what to say. That didn't make sense to him. He then realized it was probably something to do with what happened last week when Kakashi just showed up at his house.

"They're gone!" Itachi shouted, running over to Obito. He didn't pay much attention to Rin and Obito was surprised with the amount of emotion on small Itachi's face. "They're gone and I don't know where they are and-"

"Who?" Obito asked, cutting Itachi off and Itachi seemed confused by the question, but his hysteria rivaled an actual 4 year olds so it was hard for him to focus.

"They aren't at the house and everything is gone." Itachi said and Obito's confused expression faded and he smiled.

"Itachi they're fine. Rin, I'll talk to you later." Obito said and rose off the bench. Rin looked put out slightly but nodded. She realized Obito was busy with his new friends, she just wished he had time for her too.

***

Obito brought Itachi to the house where Sasori was holding Deidara while painting and Kakuzu seemed to be messing with the kitchen area. Itachi's stress faded and his shoulders sagged with relief. Obito smirked at him and Itachi flushed. Obito decided not to mention it and ruffled Itachi's hair.

"Do you need help?" He asked Kakuzu and Kakuzu turned to face him. He looked over at Obito and Obito shrugged.

"Guess Itachi and I are here to help." He offered and Kakuzu decided to accept the help. They had a lot to do, after all.

***

Orochimaru didn't exactly have an idea of where he was going. He knew roughly about the direction that Jiraiya and Tsunade went, he just wasn't sure exactly where they were. It was times like this where he wished he had a super sensory ninja to assist him. Someone sensing a person from the distance he was at was likely unheard of but he could dream.

He wiped his forehead as he continued on. His head was throbbing for whatever reason and he just wanted to sit. He'd been at this for over a week and through all of his questions, didn't have a single lead on where anyone was. 

Seeing a large house in the distance, Orochimaru decided this was the best time as any to stop somewhere. Perhaps they'd seen something? But this village looked terrible.It was likely destroyed in the war and Orochimaru was just surprised they decided to stay. He could sense several chakras coming from the house and walked up to the steps. He knocked on the door gently and it opened a minute later.

"Hello, I'm sorry to bother you, I've been traveling and this is the only place I've seen that isn't..."

"Destroyed?" The woman said simply and Orochimaru gave a curt nod. He didn't want to classlessly say something like that. "You're a shinobi." She noted and he touched his headband and nodded slowly. "The leaf village, huh?"

"Yes, ma'am." She opened the door further and Orochimaru walked thanked her and walked inside. "My name is Orochimaru." He introduced and she looked at him and decided she trusted him enough to smile. 

"I'm Nono." She introduced herself. "I'm surprised you haven't heard of us before. We're right in the line to heal injured shinobi from your village. It helps fund the house." Orochimaru looked around at the less than pleasing conditions and tried to smile through it, though it looked as fake as it felt. "We don't have much..."

"No, you've done well with what you have." Orochimaru insisted, although it felt like a backhanded compliment. He winced, feeling like a jerk but she didn't seem to mind too much.

"Do you need any healing?" She asked and Orochimaru shook his head.

"Just a glass of water, if you will." He asked politely and she nodded. She turned to get it but by the time she got that far, there was a 7 year old child, holding a glass of water to Orochimaru.

"Thank you, Kabuto." Nono said, smiling and Kabuto nodded.

"Thank you." Orochimaru said gratefully to both Nono and now the small gray haired child. "Is he your apprentice?" He asked and Nono looked at him proudly.

"Yes. He's doing so well." She praised and Kabuto flushed under the attention.

"That's wonderful. I'm actually on my way to find a friend of mine. Tsunade, she's known for her medical ninjutsu. We need her to train some shinobi." Kabuto's eyes widened and he looked at Nono. 

"That sounds amazing." Nono said and saw the way Kabuto was looking at her. She knew she had to ask. "Do you think she's taking on any apprentices besides them?" Orochimaru's eyes flickered to the small boy's. His black eyes held excitement and Orochimaru for whatever reason felt a connection with him. 

"I'm sure I could get her to train one more." He said, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips. "Were you interested, Kabuto?" He asked, testing the name on his lips. It felt familiar and he wasn't sure why. But once he said it, he felt the connection strengthen. 

"Yes." Kabuto's voice was tinier than he thought it would be but it suited him. The oversized glasses looked ridiculous on the child's face, but he had to admit, it was charming in its own way.

"Would you like to tag along?" It wasn't a complete selfless act. By having a talented medical ninja with him, it would seriously help out in the long run. He wasn't sure how long it would take to find Tsunade. Kabuto looked at Nono and although she seemed upset with Kabuto leaving, she smiled softly and nodded. Kabuto could always come back when he learned enough. He was good, but she wouldn't stand in the way of him training with the great Tsunade. Everyone knew of her medical ninjutsu. It was the best in the world.

"Thank you." Kabuto said with the warmest smile and Nono knew she made the right choice. And once Kabuto looked at Orochimaru, he felt at peace. Like this was the home he was looking for.

***

"Bakashi, you're getting really annoying." Obito said flatly and Kakashi jumped down from a tree and glared. "What do you want? Seriously?"

What annoyed Kakashi to no end was how Obito was handling situations. Obito was never this level headed. And Kakashi wished he could figure out what was going on. Obito's scent seemed to changed every day but he couldn't figure out why. The passed week he smelled more like wood. The week before then he smelled a lot like baby. 

"I just want to know what is going on with you." Kakashi demanded and Obito bristled at the tone.

"Nothing is going on with me. I'm actually happy. Does that offend you? Why does it matter what's different with me? It isn't like you cared before." Obito snapped and Kakashi took a step back and blinked.he looked away and Obito was proud to have rendered Kakashi speechless.

That didn't last for long. Kakashi looked back at Obito and crossed his arms.

"You had this whole lecture about comrades and how important they were, yet I don't recall you with Rin in a while, I haven't seen you and neither has Minato. I'm worried about my teammate." Which was completely true. Kakashi wasn't even completely sure that Obito was actually Obito. If it wasn't for the matching scents, Kakashi would likely have called him out forever ago. Sure, Obito's scene changed, but not his underlying smell. He still smelled like Obito, just with other embellishments on top.

"You're right." Obito felt bad again. He had to remember when he was this age, he was always with Rin. She would often leave him for Kakashi, but he was always available when she wanted to hang out and the annoyed part of Obito realized that this is what actually made them realize. He wasn't up Rin's ass anymore, so therefore, something was wrong with him. His frown deepened and he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I want to meet them." Kakashi said and Obito's heart stopped but he managed to look indifferent.

"Meet who?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Kakashi said and turned around to walk away. "Don't do anything stupid." With that Kakashi jumped off and Obito stared at the dirt beneath him. 

***

"Didja hear that, Kisame?" Kisame looked down at his friend, Mangetsu who was grinning with all of his teeth. "The competition. Are you going to join?"

"Obviously." Kisame said and bit his finger nail. A nervous habit. 

They weren't sure when everything was finally situated. Apparently, Orochimaru went off on a mission and this would take place when he got back. The idea of it was too exciting to completely fathom and Kisame couldn't stop thinking about it. To train under one of the legendary Sannin and learn to sword fight even better. There wasn't much more that Kisame wanted than that.

"If either of us train under him, we're bound to be a legendary swordsmen." Mangetsu said and sat down next to Kisame.

"Remember, you have to bring Suigetsu." Kisame said and Mangetsu laughed at the prospect of bringing a newborn with him to swordfight. But Kisame was right, if he didn't, no one was there to watch his younger brother. 

"Will you watch him while I kick butt?" He asked, swinging his legs and Kisame nodded.

"I don't think your brother likes me much." He said with a frown and Mangetsu laughed at that.

"Kisame, he's only a few months old. He doesn't know what liking people and not liking them even is." Kisame supposed he was right. 

"Do you think one day he'll like me?" Mangetsu rolled his eyes.

"One day he's gonna challenge you for your legendary sword." Kisame's demeanor changed and he laughed, throwing his head back.

"Yeah? You think he's gonna win?" He asked and Mangetsu shrugged and jumped off the seat.

"He will if you don't get up and train with me." Kisame shrugged and stood up.

"Fair enough." He agreed and pulled his sword out.

"What sword do you want?" Mangetsu asked suddenly. "Of the legendary swords."

"Samehada." Kisame said simply. His eye had been set on that sword since they learned about it in school. The sword was sentient, and it had its own chakra.That alone was awesome, but it was 'Shark skin'? There couldn't have been a more perfect sword for him.

"I knew you were gonna say that." Kisame scoffed.

"Then why did you ask?" Mangetsu smiled.

"Sometimes it's nice to hear things that don't change. It helps ground me."He admitted and Kisame nodded slowly, realizing what Mangetsu meant. To know anything was definite was a good feeling. It left the mystery out of things and sometimes that's all a shinobi wanted. Certainty.

***

"No Hidan. Your form is all wrong." Kakuzu said with a sigh and Hidan looked upset but tried to copy it as best as he could.

This would never work. Kakuzu shook his head and walked a few steps away from Hidan. He knew the boy was only just learning and sometimes he wished he could hand over the ring to Hidan and just have Hidan know what to do already but Kakuzu knew that was cheating. In so many ways. Cheating by giving Hidan a heads up, cheating Hidan out of a childhood where he wasn't starved...

Kakuzu's shoulders sagged and he turned back around. Hidan's eyes were closed tightly in concentration but he didn't get any better. 

"You're training him wrong." Itachi said from Kakuzu's side. At this point, Kakuzu wasn't surprised to see Itachi appear in a murder of crows so he didn't make an indication that it startled him at all. In reality, Itachi was a fairly creepy child.

"What do you mean?" Kakuzu asked and Itachi took a step closer, he seemed to not want Hidan to hear their conversation.

"You're trying to show him ninjutsu. He's good with weapons.Train him with bukijutsu." Kakuzu looked ready to argue. "Please, he needs to know he won't fail at everything or he'll give up." That much, Kakuzu knew was true. Hidan grew frustrated with himself easily and he couldn't just expect Hidan to grasp something that he didn't have any inclination of knowing through the 22 years of his life previously. He shouldn't waste his time with this, he should teach Hidan what he knew already.

"Brat." Kakuzu said and Hidan's eyes popped open and he looked ashamed for failing but Kakuzu ignored it and walked over to grab a scroll and summoned two swords with one of the weapons scrolls Itachi brought with him. He tossed a sword to Hidan's side and it sheathed itself into the soft dirt a few inches from Hidan's foot. Kakuzu was surprised that Hidan didn't wince. Itachi smiled on the realization of Hidan's blind trust of his partner.

"Sword?" He asked curiously and pulled it up with difficulty. Kakuzu realized even though it was Hidan, he was still a child with barely any arm strength. He sighed.

Looks like there was more training than he thought there would be. 

"You got this, Kakuzu." Itachi said seriously and Kakuzu just shook his head in annoyance. 

"Mr. Kakuzu, I got it!" Hidan said proudly but very obviously was having issues keeping the sword upright. Running a frustrated hand through his hair, Kakuzu groaned and wished that he wasn't so hellbent on getting Hidan to where he needed to be, fighting wise. But if anyone was going to train Hidan, it would be him. 

"Hey it's lunchtime." Sasori shouted from the kitchen window.

"Thank fucking christ. Hidan, put the sword down." Hidan dropped the sword and almost tripped over it. Kakuzu stared at him blankly and shook his head. This didn't surprise him. "No swords. We have to strengthen your upper body first." Kakuzu said and Hidan pouted slightly but didn't argue. He followed shortly after Kakuzu into the house to eat lunch.

Hidan took a second as he walked into the house where he felt safe. He looked at Sasori in the kitchen with Itachi standing next to him explaining something.He turned to see Obito sitting on the floor playing with Deidara

It was weird how everyone got together in this makeshift house in the woods. He wasn't there long. Maybe a month they were all together? Maybe longer? He honestly didn't know. But he wasn't counting the days too much. He felt thankful for each day he spend with them. He never had a family before but standing there with Kakuzu bickering with Sasori and looking at Deidara learning to walk with the help of Obito, well everything seemed perfect. 

This was the home he always wanted. Having a father figure like Kakuzu there to teach him how to defend himself. An older brother like Sasori there to teach him things he always wanted to learn from a school but never got to. A mom figure, ironically Obito, always fussing over if he was cleaned or fed. Itachi, younger, but acted as an older brother, doting on him and scolding Kakuzu when he got too stern and finally Deidara. The small baby that Hidan felt a connection with, he just wanted to show Deidara exactly how he wanted to be treated. Deidara wouldn't remember growing up unloved in an orphanage. Deidara would remember this, now. Having a family around him, and even though Hidan was jealous he would always remember the harsh treatment of the people in his village, now he knew exactly who was there for him. 

"Come on brat, come eat." Kakuzu demanded.

"Can you just not be a douche for a solid 3 seconds?" Sasori said flatly.

"No, it's Kakuzu." Obito laughed joyfully.

"Guys the food is getting cold." Itachi pointed out and Hidan smiled.

And they were his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy fuck it took longer responding to comments than writing the damn chapter.
> 
> anyway
> 
> 1) Eyyyy bb how did you feel seeing this was finally fucking updated?  
> 2) We gots Kabuto now, do you think he's gonna play nicely with the others? And Kabuto takes a liking to two younger characters. (may or may not have been mentioned yet) who are they?  
> 3) Would it super bother anyone if I fuck up the timeline some more (because I'm not sure if I want Konan, Nagato and Yahiko to be 17 yet)  
> 4) KISAMEEEE YASSS. It'll be a bit before he's in permanently but Shark boi is here, how do ya feel?
> 
> Thank you for staying with me, friends. I love all of you.
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr for updates and art I do for my stories (there have been a few pictures of this story already) SmoresiesFanfic. I also have a PORN BLOG Smwhoresies, where I draw smut (and my ask boxis open, holla)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's so much that goes on this chapter, just try and keep up lmao
> 
> Also, I'm going to start writing the next chapter now, while I'm inspired. I don't know that I'll finish it, but I really don't want you guys waiting months for an update.
> 
> Update on me: I've been so shitty with updating because I moved from New York to Ohio and I'm currently the breadwinner of my household so I work a lot and I get home and I'm just tired. I try to write on my off days but man, it's exhausting. I don't get two consecutive days off so it's like super tiring to even will myself to write. I work 10+ hours a day sometimes, It's just exhausting. But I will try to be better. Thank you for sticking with me, I love all of you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **YAOI_shipsFreak** : Obito is also a mom in this chapter. I love him, thanks.  
>  **Anaelyssa** : Thank you. And They aren't okay with it, but it'll get better lol  
>  **Bleeb90** : Aww you're welcome, I'm glad you loved it.  
>  **KenzieP** : You're so fuckin valid. Kishi did already fuck it up so I'm here to fuck it up more.  
>  **ccdancer2003** : :) I'm glad you were happy to see an update, I hope you're just as happy for this one. And yeah I know what you mean, I don't know why I started writing like that, but it's literally been a quirk I've had for like 10 fuckin years. I try to change it but it's old habits I guess. I hope this chapter was an easier read. And yeah I have like ADD I can't sit still with one character too long. Especially since there's so much to get into this story!  
>  **HidansCrazyLaugh** : This story is mainly gonna be fluff, granny. You should marry Kakuzu considering Hidan won't do it in this story. Kakuzu is a lonely dad. snatch that ass up. And yeah, toddler ninjas would be awful.  
>  **AlmaDescompuesta** : I mean, I'd imagine he'd ignore Obito for a while for lying to him but likely get over it if Itachi tells him to. Obito is Hidan's mother, confirmed.  
>  **1xkewrites** : Thank you I'm glad you think so uwu  
>  **TreesAreLoveTreesAreLife** : hahaha yisss. And I love Kabuto too. He's actually daddy, so don't even get me started on my Kabuto hard on. Nothing Kisame does will make him an S ranked criminal in my eyes tbh.  
>  **SweetAlphaChild** : I will never abandon my stories. It may take me longer to update, but I'll always come back to them. They are my babies.   
> **Mysterymew** : *thanks*  
>  **ShadowSpellchecker** : Yay, I updated again!!! And nothing will change their personalities. They're still around that age and all, but the years are all fucked up, but they were fucked up and made no sense in cannon too so...  
>  **: RelenaDuo** : eeeee unfortunately the "smol" is only gonna be like 14 or 15 idr what I wrote instead of 17. They had to still be older than Obito! I love them.  
>  **ira** : yeah I had to give him a few years to make it more believable that he knew what he did. He's no Itachi. He can't be the worlds greatest ninja at 3. lmao  
>  **sakaemara** : Well I'll give you a hint, I actually love kabuto so the likelyhood that I make him an evil shithead is pretty slim. Even though that's exactly why I love him. You're welcome for writing!  
>  **CenturyGraves07** : Thank you~!  
>  **ThatOneTyGuy** : uwu you're so sweet~  
>  **VianaDAscolli** : !!! You're wonderful. And Hidan will not be getting his ring back for a long while, in fact, there's a whole plot based on Hidan getting his ring back that will happen soon, but things happen. Don't want to spoil it but my precious bean will stay my precious bean even longer. I personally can't wait for Sasori and Obito to start a parent feud over baby Dei. I unfortunately couldn't do that this chapter because plot. I hope you enjoyed this chapter honey~  
>  **FabulousAbitoAchiha** : That's absolutely fair. I'm pretty shitty at updated nowadays. I'll try to be better oxo you will see if Oro get's his memories back eventually~ And no, the Ame trio is only 2 years younger than their cannon age. I just didn't want them to be full on adults yet. They're still a year older than Obito. And omg you praise me, thank you so much <3 <3  
>  **Just_A_Star** : I have been fucking waiting to bring Kisame in since I started writing this forever ago and I swear to god I will perish if he doesn't meet Itachi soon which is why I'm speeding along the plot to get Orochimaru back in the leaf village to get Kisame there and jfc _s t r e s s_ And thank you for your kind words!  
>  **witchy-fandom-poutine** : I know I thanked you on Tumblr, but thank you again. I hope you're still following the story!

Chapter Eight:

After a few weeks of pure body strength training, Kakuzu and Hidan had a routine down. Hidan was becoming slightly less clumsy, but mainly he knew how to catch himself after he tripped more than just not tripping. 

Kakuzu let Hidan do warm ups by himself, wanting the child do get over his extreme dependance to him. So early every morning, Hidan would drag himself out of bed and change into his training clothes (that Obito swears were his from a few years ago and he totally didn't go out and buy Hidan a bunch of clothes, what do you think he is, a mom?) and walked outside in the morning chilled air to do his stretches. 

Eventually Hidan broke out into a sprint, running through the trees, narrowly missing running into branches and tripping himself on fallen logs, but that was half the fun. 

His mind wandered again to his new family and he felt thankful to have them, even though he was slightly jealous most of them were at home sleeping right now.

Something caught Hidan's eyes and he paused and stopped running. Someone else was training in the woods too. Hidan walked over curiously, the bright green clothes doing little to conceal him even though they were in the forest. 

"Who's there?" The person asked and Hidan pushed passed the trees to meet the older boy face to face. "Oh. Hello there!"

"Hi." Hidan said shyly and examined the boy curiously.

"What are you doing out here so early?"

"Training. Same as you." Hidan said proudly and got a smile in return.

"Good job! Hard work and perseverance is all it takes to create a great shinobi!" He got a thumbs up and Hidan beamed up at him, clapping his small hands. "My name is Maito Gai!"

"I'm Hidan!" Hidan introduced himself proudly and Gai laughed happily.

"Hidan! What a youthful name! Care to join me this wonderful morning for some training? I see you've started your run already." Nodding his head vigorously, Hidan readily agreed. "Fantastic! Let us begin!"

***

"Where the hell is that damned brat?" Kakuzu grumbled, standing on the porch of the house, looking around the woods.

"You lost Hidan?" Sasori asked, eyebrow perked, nursing a cup of black coffee.

"He warms up by himself, then he comes back and we train. That's how it always is. He's late and I don't appreciate the intolerance." Kakuzu said through clenched teeth. He wouldn't admit it outloud but he was worried Hidan ran into trouble. What if he was killed by leaf shinobi thinking he was an enemy?

Kakuzu was sure one of his several hearts would give out any minute now. 

Opening his mouth to say something, Sasori paused and closed his mouth and smiled, patting Kakuzu on the shoulder.

"It's fine, I sense him... Wait... He's with someone." Kakuzu's eyes narrowed and a few moments later Hidan stumbled out of the clearing with a giggle, followed shortly by Gai. Kakuzu tried to remember if Gai was someone he should worry about or not but the man seemed kind enough. It didn't ease him in the slightest.

"Whoa." Gai's eyes widened. "I had no idea there was a house out here." Hidan saw the look on Kakuzu's face and froze. Instantly he knew that what he did wasn't okay and dread filled him to the brim. Gai noticed Hidan's sudden mood change and realized that he wasn't supposed to know this was there. "I'm sure no one else needs to know about it's existence." He said sternly, looking at Kakuzu. 

"Hidan." Kakuzu said sharply and Hidan winced which made Gai very unhappy. That shouldn't be Hidan's reaction, was he abused? "You're late."

"I-I'm sorry mister Kakuzu." He said miserably and this further confused Gai. Wouldn't Hidan call him dad? Who were they in relation to each other? "I met Gai and he-he was teaching me about taijutsu." Suddenly the scared, worried expression melted off and he smiled proudly at Kakuzu. "A-and I got it! Mister Kakuzu, I can do taijutsu!" Sasori noticed the change in Kakuzu's eyes. There were several expressions that passed over his face. Anger, worry, pride, irritation, acceptance. 

"Then he can train you." Kakuzu said stiffly and walked into the house. Sasori rolled his eyes and Hidan looked crushed. Sasori walked down the steps, over to Hidan, taking a sip of coffee.

"Don't worry about it. He's just grumpy." He said nonchalantly and without warning a flock of crows began to conform together beside Sasori and Itachi materialized. Gai's eyes widened, but Itachi didn't notice him right away.

"Sorry I'm late, Sasori. I had to do some things for my mom." Sasori pointed to Gai and Itachi's eyes widened.

"Itachi?" Itachi waved awkwardly and Gai scratched his head.

"Man, I don't really see how this could become any weirder." Gai said, looking like he was really trying to process everything.

Then Obito walked out of the house in an apron with Deidara on his hip.

"Breakfast is done." He called out, not realizing Gai was there and went back inside. Gai continued to watch dumbly and Itachi looked up at Gai.

"Mind keeping quiet about this?" Itachi asked and Gai cleared his throat.

"I honestly... don't know what I would even say."

***

"Master Jiraiya?" Jiraiya paused and turned to face the voice. He was fairly certain he knew who it was, but there was no way-

"Yahiko?" Jiraiya's eyes widened, that was his pupil, but he was almost 14 now. The wide grin made him laugh. "Yahiko, how the hell are you?" Jiraiya pulled the teenager into a tight hug and Yahiko hugged back, feeling giddy in the presence of his old master. 

"I'm doing alright, how are you?" Yahiko looked good, he looked happy. It made Jiraiya smile all the more.

"Just passing through, doing research for my book, as always." Yahiko nodded, laughing.

"I'm not surprised at all. Where to now?" Yahiko asked and Jiraiya shrugged. "Again, not surprised."

"Where's Nagato and Konan?" He couldn't help but ask and Yahiko pointed in a seemingly random direction.

"They've gone ahead. We're going to different villages to talk about trying to create a peaceful group to stop the war." The smile on Yahiko's face was so pure, Jiraiya believed in him. If there was someone that was going to stop the war, it would be Yahiko. 

"Where is on your itinerary next?" Yahiko seemed to think for a second before he could remember the name. 

"Hah, sorry, we're meeting in Kusagakure. Hopefully to branch out a bit more. There's a lot of casualties going on right now and I'm worried." Jiraiya nodded gravely.

"Well, come on, lead the way. I can take a detour. They love me in Kusagakure!" Jiraiya bragged and Yahiko rolled his eyes fondly.

"Yeah, sure, sensei." 

***

"Where are we going, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked curiously. They'd been travelling for a while, and it seemed they were always going in a random direction.

"I'm unsure where Tsunade is, as I've told you before, but... I just..." Orochimaru frowned and looked dead ahead. "I just get the feeling I need to go to Kusagakure. So that's where we're headed." Kabuto nodded in understanding and continued to set up the fire. Orochimaru watched the young child with curious eyes. Everything Kabuto did seemed to be so thought out. He noticed none of Kabuto's movements were wasted. He wondered why. 

Through their journey that lasted for a few weeks, he'd gotten to know a bit of the boy, finding out he was an orphan with amnesia. He didn't even know his own name. That was enough to tug at his heartstrings, but the boy seemed to be doing well enough for himself despite the dark past. 

"Oh, I've heard of Kusagakure..." Kabuto began to nervously ramble about random facts about the village, most of which Orochimaru knew already but he nodded along just the same. He didn't want to silence Kabuto, the poor boy probably didn't have many people to talk to. 

"You're very knowledgeable." Orochimaru praised and Kabuto's face blushed and he looked down at his feet with a smile. "That will be great for a pupil of Tsunade." He said, nodding his head and Kabuto's breathing hitched slightly. His lips pursed and he looked up at Orochimaru.

"I've been thinking... And... Would you terribly mind if I was your pupil?" He asked and Orochimaru blinked, surprised at the question. He then smiled warmly. 

"I'm not very good at healing, but I'm sure there's things I can teach you." He offered and Kabuto smiled wide. "But I do think you should at least train with Tsunade to really help you."

"Absolutely, Orochimaru-sama. I would be honored!"

***

"That's it, Hidan!" Obito shouted proudly from the sidelines. Deidara securely in his arms and clapping. Sasori was handing Deidara random snacks to try but most of them were thrown on the ground before they even made it to his mouth. 

A week after the incident with Gai, he was now training with Hidan more frequently, to Kakuzu's chagrin. Itachi insisted to Kakuzu not to be upset, because if there was one person that Itachi was actually wary of power wise, it was Gai. Kakuzu didn't see how a weird bowl cut loser could be strong, but if Itachi heavily insisted, he'd have to bow down. 

Hidan was thriving in the hand to hand combat and he actually really enjoyed fighting. If he got punched, he'd stand right back up. Everything got his blood pumping. It was unlike any other feeling he had before. 

"Obito, don't you have training today?" Itachi asked curiously and Obito blinked and looked down at the young Uchiha. 

"Yeah..." Obito sighed and tried to ignore his irritation by watching Gai and Hidan train. 

"You should probably get ready." Itachi said and Obito pouted at him.

"You aren't my mom." He argued and Itachi sighed at the childish response. "Oh, how's your mom doing with the pregnancy?" Obito asked off-handedly and Itachi smiled happily.

"She's due soon so I'm excited to meet Sasuke." Itachi said and clapped his hands softly, like he was trying not to clap but couldn't help himself. Obito snickered at the response, but Itachi ignored it. If there was one thing Itachi adored more than life itself, it was his baby brother. But this time, he would do things right. He wouldn't put the trauma in his brothers mind, that was for damn sure. Sasuke was going to be so spoiled and Itachi couldn't wait. 

"You know exactly when she's gonna have Sasuke so I don't doubt that you will be at the hospital before she even shows up." Obito said with a laugh and Itachi shrugged his shoulders.

"Are there any children you're excited to meet?" He asked and Obito's expression turned melancholy. 

"Naruto." He said quietly and continued to stare at the grass.

"Hey. This time around he won't lose his parents." Itachi pointed out and Obito looked at him with a weak smile. Yeah. He wouldn't. Because Obito wouldn't be the one to kill them. 

"Did you see that Mister Kakuzu?!" Hidan said excitedly, bouncing on his feet. "That move I just did, wasn't it good, mister Kakuzu??" 

"Hm. Acceptable." Kakuzu grunted and Hidan shone proudly, Obito shook his head.

"You know, I'm not seeing much of a difference between this Hidan and our Hidan." Obito said quietly and Itachi snorted loudly. Kakuzu glared at them from the corner of his eye and both of them couldn't contain their laughter anymore. 

***

"This is Kusagakure, hm?" Kabuto asked quietly and looked around with inquisitive eyes. Each village they'd visited, Kabuto was always so surprised at the difference between that village and the one he remembered. Orochimaru wondered if it was because Kabuto was trying to remember which one he was originally from or not. "Where are we going to go now?"

"I have a few ideas for places, but nothing concrete." Orochimaru said and they walked through the crowd, weaving in and out of the groups of passing people. Kabuto stayed close by to Orochimaru, but kept getting separated from him. His heart was pounding in his chest and he was too anxious. He wound up just gripping onto Orochimaru's sleeve. Orochimaru turned back to see what the sudden tug was from, but when he saw Kabuto's tiny blushing face, he could only smile softly in response and turned back around, guiding Kabuto through the crowd.

"There's a lot of people here." Kabuto whispered and Orochimaru could only agree. The grip grew tighter and they pushed along. 

Losing count on how long they stayed in the village so far, Kabuto blinked his eyes tiredly. Orochimaru felt bad, he hadn't taken into consideration that Kabuto was still a young child. 

"Let's find a room, shall we?" Orochimaru suggested and Kabuto gave a single nod. 

It didn't take too long to find somewhere and Orochimaru let them both to the room where they placed their stuff down. Kabuto looked around the room, interested by it. They hadn't stayed in a hotel of sorts yet. This was the first time they'd be sleeping indoors since they departed. There just wasn't really any on the way. 

"Rest, Kabuto. I'm going to go around to see if I can find anything, okay?" Kabuto frowned, he didn't want to be left behind, but he was so exhausted he agreed anyway. He was sure Orochimaru wouldn't leave him here in a hotel room by himself for long, right? 

With that, Orochimaru left and Kabuto laid down, falling asleep almost instantly. 

***

Being in Kusagakure was strange because Orochimaru knew there was something here for him, but his heart tugged him into several directions. He just wasn't sure where to go. It was a constant battle between going left or right. Eventually he caved and went left and followed his intuition until it led him to a bathhouse. He tilted his head to the side and shook it. Sighing, he walked into the bathhouse. He never really cared for them, they reminded him of Jiraiya too much. 

Suddenly it made sense and he hastened his step, going through the entry process and gaining access to the locker rooms. Once his stuff was put down, he quickly went through the door that led him to the male section of the hot springs.

There he was.

Jiraiya. 

"Yeah so then I said- what the fuck?" Jiraiya stopped mid sentence and just gaped at Orochimaru. Yahiko and Nagato followed his gaze to see what surprised him. Yahiko frowned upon seeing Orochimaru's face. Orochimaru supposed it was from the first time they met when he suggested killing the three Ame orphans, which was completely understandable on his part. "Oro, what the fuck, man?" Jiraiya hopped out of the bath and made his way over to Orochimaru to give him an extremely awkward, mostly naked hug that made Orochimaru's entire face heat up. He wasn't one for blushing but this was mortifying.

"Jiraiya, can we please save the pleasantries for when we're in a better state of dress?" He suggested quickly and Jiraiya dropped him from the strong hug and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, old friend. I guess I just got excited to see you." He said with an embarrassed laugh. "Honestly what brings you here??" Jiraiya asked excitedly. "I just got here myself two days ago."

"I... don't know. I was sent on a mission to find Tsunade, and instead my intuition took me to you I suppose." Orochimaru said and the mention of Tsunade made Jiraiya frown. He missed her. He knew she still wouldn't be at the village. Not after Dan. She was still running away from that problem, he saw. 

"Why are you looking for Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked and crossed his arms. Orochimaru looked up at him and smiled slightly.

"There's a lot going on in the village right now. One of the things being... Do you know of Uchiha Itachi?" Jiraiya nodded his head. "Apparently he has an affinity for healing and I suppose Hiruzen-sensei thinks this could help..." He looked at Jiraiya importantly. Hoping he would take the hint. Jiraiya nodded his head gravely.

"Ah. I see. They're still wary of the Uchiha."

"Always." Jiraiya nodded and looked back at his pupils. 

"Hey, I hear our Old Lord-Third is possibly stepping down soon. What's that mean for you?" Jiraiya gave Orochimaru a grin and Orochimaru shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "What?"

"Unfortunately the only person who stands behind my desire to become Hokage is Danzo."

"Ew."

"Yeah." Orochimaru crossed his arms. "I'm still hopeful, but I feel like I'll be passed up for someone else. I'm unsure who."

"Hey! I'll put in a good word for you." Jiraiya offered, grinning. "I'll go back to the village with you. How else do you plan on finding our dear Hime?" 

"I believed you were otherwise occupied." Orochimaru's eyes darted to the two teenagers in the hot springs and Jiraiya turned to face them, then looked back to Orochimaru.

"I'm sure we can all work something out."

***

"Why do you suppose your intuition keeps making you run into people?" Jiraiya asked as they walked down the road together alone. The two boys had left and Jiraiya promised them they would all get together later on. They needed to continue moving ahead if they were going to find Tsunade. Luckily, Jiraiya had enough pull in a lot of the villages and sent out some of his toads to ask around, see if Tsunade was spotted anywhere. 

"I don't know but each time it feels like... I'm a step closer to getting where I need to be. Each person I run into I know is going to be important, I'm just unsure as to why." He said and led them through another turn. Jiraiya looked around curiously. They were getting into the sketchier part of the village. 

"Are you leading me here on purpose to freak me out? Because congratulations, you've done it." Jiraiya said lowly and looked at all the incredibly creepy shifty looking individuals that littered the streets. 

"No I just need to be here right now."

"Who are we going to meet?"

"I don't know." As they walked deeper into the darker parts of the village, they were stopped by a woman with bright red hair.

"Excuse me... Please help me..."

***

"Excuse me, Tsunade-sama, you're being summoned." Tsunade turned her head curiously where her eyes met with Katsuyu's. She narrowed her eyes in confusion. 

"Why are you getting me?" She asked, almost a slur. Katsuyu sighed. She knew she should come back later.

"Sleep for now, Tsunade-sama, when you awaken, I will come back." Katsuyu said softly and Tsunade was already asleep. 

Katsuyu stared at her unconscious form and hoped whatever it was that Orochimaru and Jiraiya wanted her for, would get her out of this funk .

With that, she disappeared.

***

Kakashi nearly broke the training stump on the grounds. He was so incredibly irritated and completely over the entire thing with Obito.

Except he completely wasn't, not even a little bit.

Why in the hell was Obito and Gai spending so much time together? 

Okay it wasn't that much, but Obito and Gai barely even liked each other before and now they were suddenly talking in passing all the time? Gai would show up to talk to Obito about something quietly, the two of them would laugh or Obito would respond in the same hushed tones.

What was going on? Kakashi wanted to know before he actually fought someone. 

To make it even worse, their smells were slightly different. Kakashi could tell they were different smells, but there was one thing that clung to them that made them have a similar after scent. That meant they shared something in common. They both spoke to the same person in close proximity, but who was it?

First, Kakashi assumed it was Itachi, but he quickly brushed that off because he knew Itachi's scent and this wasn't it. So then he started to get even more curious and followed Gai around. 

Obito wasn't stupid, he liked to pretend, but the bastard seemed to always be a few steps ahead of the game. Gai was different, Gai had no idea Kakashi was tailing him so it never mattered. He wasn't worried about someone trying to figure out where he was going so he wasn't careful. 

There was the obvious sneaking around, but it wasn't as thorough as Obito's sneaking could be. 

Which is how Kakashi came to a small clearing outside the Konoha gates. He wondered why Gai was even out here to begin with. 

They went deeper into the forest, Kakashi was confused, he thought the clearing was where Gai's destination was, but he kept moving.

"You're back!" Kakashi's eyes landed carefully on a small child. About 5 years old give or take a year. His smile was wide, his hair was gray and an absolute wreck, his eyes were bright.

Kakashi pulled down his mask to uncover his nose. When he scented the air, his eyes narrowed. That was it. That was their shared scent, this boy. But the question was, why? 

"Of course! You ready for some hot blooded training?" Hidan stood up proudly, grinning.

"Yes I am!" Kakashi sighed and realized he'd have to wait for a while before he could even see where these two were going to end up. Then he would be able to hopefully see what Obito had been hiding from him. 

***

"Can we help you?" Jiraiya asked warily and the woman seemed to have trouble standing on her two feet. She had a baby wrapped up tight in a blanket. Her eyes shone with tears and Jiraiya took a wary step forward. She looked at Orochimaru, however. 

"Please, my daughter..." She hiccuped on her tears. "She can't stay here."

"What... Are you getting at?" Orochimaru asked slowly and she took several steps to him, stopping once they were face to face. 

"I was taken into this village as a refugee. I heal their sick and injured as my gratitude, but they expect my daughter to pick up the slack when I die... And I'm going to die soon..." Her eyes welled with tears. "She's just a baby!"

"...How would your daughter go about healing someone?" Orochimaru asked with an arched brow. Jiraiya thought he was being oddly cold and calculated for the given moment.

"She doesn't have to do medical ninjutsu. If you bite us, you can eat our chakra and replenish your own." Orochimaru felt nauseated that people would consider biting a baby to take it's chakra. "Please. Save her." A baby was thrust into Orochimaru's arms and he stared down at her and saw her tired red eyes open and look at him. "Save Karin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
> 
> Okay okay, I'm done.
> 
> 1) Now that this chapter is up, do you want to change your guess on who Kabuto will bond with? :)  
> 2) Is there anything you'd like to see from the Ame trio? Since they're now going to tag along on a giant group journey to find Tsunade with Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Kabuto and Karin?  
> 3) How are we liking Hidan and Gai right now? I think they're so pure and I've been wanting Hidan to train with Gai since before I started the story. And writing jealous Kakuzu is just funny to me.  
> 4) Just a question of curiosity, people who comment regularly and have me respond to them at the beginning of the chapter, do you read what I write to you?  
> 5) Sannin-OT3?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsunadeeeeeeeeeee  
> and  
> Kakashiiiiiiiiiiii

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Anaelyssa** : *thumbs up* I'm glad you read my replies  
>  **MysteryMew** : Thank you!  
>  **HannaVictoria** and **FallenAngelIII** : now both of you have thoroughly confused me lmao. If It is true, then oh well, my story is better than canon (because in canon, they're all dead.)  
>  **AlmaDescompuesta** : Thank you honey. I'm glad you read the notes too, you're so sweet <3  
>  **kuscospoison** : CURSED IMAGE?? YOU MEAN _BLESSED_ IMAGE!!  
>  **VianaDAscolli** : Aw thank you bb I appreciate that sm <3 uwu. A lot of you said will take some time to get to. And Karin is my boo, obvs Suigetsu will annoy her here too so, they gotta show up first. Rin will come back soon! Obito got his stern talking to from Kakashi this chapter. I hope you're ready to see more Good Guy!Oro because that's where this story is going. Him and his smol fam.  
>  **TreesAreLoveTreesAreLife** : Yes you're right. First and only person to guess it correctly. And don't make me make someone draw that (Hidan dressed like Gai) because I fucking will. AW BABE, U SO SWEET!! And of course I respond to everyone, how else would they know I fucking LIVE for comments? You all are the best for taking your time to write to me, I can at least respond! and yeah sannin0t3 won't be the only ot3 in this story hopefullyyyy You stay youthful too!!  
> waftwaffle: I read twatwaffle and I'm so sorry. Anyway, Thank you for commenting! Don't worry, I'm slowly getting better with taking care of myself... I think.  
>  **ox0hunny0xo** : hi babe! I'm glad you joined the party even if you were late! Don't worry! I should've reread the responses before writing the chapter bc then maybe I would've remembered the blushing nagato or the dango. And awww that's so gay, thank you honey <3  
>  **HaniB2003** : Because why not? Obito is collecting children, why can't the sannin do it too?? #whodiditbetter  
>  **Just_A_Star** : haha i love how long your response is so thank you for letting me read that. I'll have to file away these ideas in a notebook and read it when I'm gonna write the next chapter. Because Nagato reading some Jiraiya smut? thats some good (100) shit right (100) there (100) (it doesn't look as good without emojis but I tried.) Everyone apparently wants to see Hidan dressed like Gai sensei (by wanting to see, and claims they're traumatized, I mean the same thing) so maybe I should just? do? it??  
>  **Antartique** : Aw thank you for the comment sweet pea. Obito as a mom is the best mom. I love him.  
>  **sakaeamara** : Yaaas b. They're all gonna love each other tbh. :) this makes me smile thank you.  
>  **RiddleWraith** : eee thank you honey <3 I hope you continue to enjoy~  
>  **FabulousAbitoAchica** : Right?? Gai mentoring Hidan is my LIFE honestly I LOVE them. It's gonna be hard to write Konan seeing Obito thooo. Kabuto, Karin and Suigetsu are an OT3 of mine so I wouldn't leave them out of this because I adore them too much. Aw I'd love to hear from you so please, comment away! I'm glad you read my responses and I hope you love this chapter too!  
>  **Yra** : Bih, where were you BEFORE? just assume you'll love everything I write and everyone will be happier ;) Thank you though you're so nice to me <333  
>  **Ragdoll_Cat37** : well, we find that shit out right the FUCK now, homie, so buckle your seatbelt and leggo!!

Chapter 9:

It seemed like forever that Kakashi stayed in the tree watching Gai train Hidan. It was interesting to watch, sure. Someone who was only 5 had a surplus of energy to match Gai so it seemed neither of them got tired. But then again, that was the problem with it.

He didn't have to wait forever though, because he could scent other people coming and when the bushes moved from the far east side, a few people stumbled out. Itachi, he knew. And there was a redhead holding a small blonde baby. He... recognized them. They were at the fight. 

"How is it going, Hidan?" Itachi asked and Hidan turned and smiled at his small friend. 

"I'm having so much fun!" He said and looked around excitedly. "Did Mister Kakuzu come too, Sasori?" Sasori frowned, shook his head, and Hidan visibly deflated. "That's okay. That just means when I'm really good, Kakuzu will be so impressed!" Sasori gave a forced smile, yeah, that wouldn't happen. 

"What are you three doing out here?" Gai asked, stretching to keep himself going. Hidan saw that Gai was stretching, so quickly joined him. 

"Seeing how Hidan is fairing with you as his sensei." Itachi said with a small shrug of his shoulders. Gai paused. Sensei? 

"What?... Sensei?" He repeated and Hidan stopped stretching to look at Gai excitedly. 

"Yeah! Gai-sensei!" Gai looked like he was splashed with cold water, then suddenly he started crying and hugged Hidan.

"What a most youthful name! I will do my best in becoming a great sensei for you, Hidan!" Hidan wrapped his arms around Gai's neck, grinning wide. "You are much too kind!"

"Hey." Everyone stopped and turned to the new voice, Obito. "Gai are you coming to dinner tonight?" He asked and Gai wiped his face of tears and nodded.

"That would be wonderful, if you are willing to have me!" Obito nodded, ignoring the dramatics.

"Okay, cool. Dinner is at 6, I expect you all to be there. You too, Bakakashi." He said nonchalantly and put his hands in his pockets and started walking away. Kakashi was startled but jumped out of the tree to run after Obito.

"What...?" Gai said slowly and Kakashi brushed passed him to get to Obito. 

"Obito!" Kakashi shouted, his anger spiking. Obito turned to him slowly and gave him such a bored look. "Damn it! You're hiding this from me?! Rogue ninja?!" He snapped and Obito flashed his sharingan dangerously. He wasn't in the mood to play coy today.

"You wanted to know what it was so bad, now you know why I didn't tell you. If you do anything to do harm to any of them, I will break you." He vowed so dangerously that Kakashi actually took a slight step back. Obito turned around and continued on walking.

"What happened to you?" Kakashi asked quietly and Obito paused, then turned back to him, his sharingan was gone. 

"What? You don't like that I'm not taking your shit anymore?" He said easily and Kakashi realized wherever his Obito was, wasn't here. 

Could he really be upset? He didn't much like his Obito anyway, what would it matter if he were different, colder, stronger? Isn't that what Kakashi wanted? A stronger partner? Well, there he was, and it was actually terrifying. Obito had a dangerous presence about him now that made Kakashi wary. 

"Now, you're going to come to dinner, you're going to meet my family, and if you have a problem... well, keep it to yourself." The threat was made clear and Kakashi wasn't even sure what to make of it. He just gave a slow nod of his head. Kakashi wasn't dumb. He knew Obito was holding back on him, and if Obito almost slaughtered him when they fought before, even with all of Kakashi's training since then... he wasn't willing to risk it. "Good. See you tonight."

***

"You're sure making a lot of food." Kakuzu commented and Obito turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, he invited his boyfriend and Gai to dinner tonight." Sasori said, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter. Kakuzu looked questioningly at Obito and Obito glared heatedly at Sasori.

"He's not my boyfriend and you know this." He said lowly and Sasori smirked. 

"Yeah yeah." He waved his arm dismissively and turned back to Kakuzu. "So if you want to hide away in your room, we all understand. Just know, Hidan will be sad. You don't have to be a dick, you know. Just because Hidan is training with Gai doesn't mean he doesn't want to spend time with you too."

"I'm ignoring this entire conversation." Kakuzu said gruffly and grabbed a drink and left the kitchen. Sasori sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I tried." He turned back to the counter and leaned on it, taking in what Obito was making. "Curry today?" 

"It's the only thing I can think of that I can make a lot of with minimal effort." He said with a shrug and Sasori nodded. That was fair. 

***

Dinner was a mess. There wasn't a table big enough for everyone, so everyone kind of sat in random spots of the living room area which didn't really have furniture. They also didn't even have enough bowls so Itachi had to sneak home and steal some for the time being. Then he was pissed to find out they didn't have enough eating utensils and had to go back again. 

Hidan sat next to Gai and they spoke about training which got a scolding look from Mama Obito and they stopped talking about training at the dinner... floor. 

Kakashi awkwardly sat in a corner by himself, the closest person to him was Sasori who sat a few feet away and tried to feed Deidara who sat in Obito's lap but Deidara wanted none of it. He shrieked like a banshee and smacked the food out of Sasori's hand and Obito and Sasori just stared blankly at the food on the floor. 

"Give me him." Kakuzu said gruffly and took baby Deidara from Obito's lap. Obito's arguments died on his lips when he saw the angry glare from Kakuzu and he looked down at his own food. Kakuzu sat down at the other wall and Deidara sat on his leg. "Eat." He demanded and Deidara looked up at him wide eyed. When Kakuzu put the food in front of him, Deidara's eyes flickered between Kakuzu's expression and the food. Eventually he took a bite and Obito and Sasori threw their hands up in defeat. 

Itachi wound up going to sit by Kakashi, holding his bowl in his hands and plopping down. Obito gave them a weird look, but Itachi ignored him and started talking calmly and quietly to Kakashi. Mainly, why Kakashi showed up for dinner if he wasn't going to take off his mask. 

"I never take off my mask, but Obito seemed pretty hellbent on me coming and meeting everyone." Kakashi responded and played with his curry. Itachi couldn't believe how childish this was and sighed. "What's it to you anyway, you're 4."

"Why? Why does everyone throw my age in my face?" Itachi asked and ate his food bitterly. 

"Cause you're four." Sasori said through a mouth full of food and Itachi wrinkled his nose in disgust. 

Dinner passed with minimal bickering which was honestly saying something with this group of misfits and Kakuzu wasn't happy to hear that he had clean up duty but tried to do it anyway. Tried being the key word because now Deidara didn't want to get off his lap and while smirking, Kakuzu said someone who Deidara didn't like should clean up and that's how Sasori got stuck doing it. 

Obito and Kakashi made eye contact and Obito jerked his head in the direction of the door and Kakashi nodded slowly and followed him outside.

They walked for a while in the darkness, Kakashi's hands buried deep in his pockets and he mulled over what he just saw. He wasn't a moron, he recognized Kakuzu from the Bingo books. His face was different than he expected, but those eyes, they were hard to replicate. Obito needed to be careful around him, especially since his crimes were going against his village and even killing the people on the council. 

"You know my secret now." Obito said indifferently. "Can you stop stalking me?"

"I don't know anything about your secret." Kakashi huffed and glared over at Obito. "This doesn't tell me anything other than you've collected... rogue ninja for some reason."

"You think Hidan, Itachi, and Deidara are rogue ninja?" Obito asked dryly and Kakashi huffed, rolling his eyes. "What?"

"I know the redhead is from the sand village, I recognize his clothes. I don't know why he's here. As for the older one, I know he's from the waterfall village. He killed them, Obito. What are you doing with them?" This was going to turn into a parent-child conversation pretty quickly if Obito didn't figure out exactly what to say.

"You don't know the story behind it, and quite frankly, I don't want to get into it right now." Obito said stiffly and Kakashi glared again, but this time looked away into the darkness of the trees. "We're going to end the war." He promised and Kakashi looked back at him, curiously. 

"You? Three small children, a teenager and a BINGO book ninja?" Obito smiled slightly and shook his head.

"No. There's still a few more of us we've yet to gather." He said, thinking of Kisame, Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato. "But don't worry."

"You're going to have to try harder than that to get me not to worry, you're endangering yourself." Kakashi scolded and Obito smirked, and that was an expression that Kakashi had a hard time accepting was Obito. Not his Obito.

"Why, Bakakashi, I didn't know you cared." The name eased him and he wasn't sure why. He looked to the ground and furrowed his brow, finally, he decided.

"I want in. You have Gai, I can join too, right?" Obito's eyes widened, all the things he expected in this life, and Kakashi asking to join the Akatsuki wasn't one of them. 

"You've always said the mission comes first. The village comes first. If people die, then so be it, as long as the mission gets completed. How will this live up to your ninja way?" Kakashi stared at him for a while. Obito was starting to get uncomfortable with the intense gaze, finally, Kakashi relented. 

"I always assumed you were a dumbass, Obito. You never followed the rules correctly, you're too loud, and you never did anything right." The words were unnecessary, and Obito found himself annoyed instantly. "But you're not. You're cold, and calculating, you wear this fake persona of someone who's happy when you aren't. You don't even get worked up to see me and barely look at Rin anymore. You were my teammate. Reluctantly on my part, but that didn't mean anything, you were still my teammate. Our job as Shinobi is to carry out missions for the sake of our village, and I've always known that. Comrades falling happens so often, you become numb to it." Kakashi's eyes softened and he looked away. "I prepared for a lot of things, but none of them were losing you." The words were like a smack in the face to Obito. "I know you're the same Obito. I know you aren't a fake, but you're different. I wasn't ready to lose my Obito, but I did and now I'm here with you. A stronger, more competent Obito, one who I very well may have enjoyed partnering up with when our team first formed, but... Not me now. I lost you once already, I'm not doing it again. So, I'm going to join you. And this is me telling you, not asking."

Kakashi left just as quickly and Obito stood in that spot outside for a long while. 

***

"You're doing it wrong." Yahiko said and Orochimaru grit his teeth. He wasn't sure how he got stuck with a baby, but this was his life now it seemed. "You have to hold her differently. She doesn't like that."

"Yeah, I think I could guess based on the screaming, but thank you." Orochimaru snapped and Yahiko raised his arms defensively. 

"Hey, Nagato, aren't you an Uzumaki?" Jiraiya asked conversationally and Nagato raised an eyebrow. 

"Yeah, why?" Orochimaru turned to him curiously. 

"Karin is an Uzumaki as well." He said and Nagato brightened considerably.

"That's great! Can I hold my cousin?" He asked and Orochimaru was completely done with holding a screaming baby, so handed her over easily where she seemed to calm down in Nagato's arms almost instantly. Orochimaru glared and crossed his arms, Jiraiya laughed loudly, and Yahiko pinched Karin's chubby cheeks. "She's even cuter up close!" 

"Aw, look at big brother Nagato." Konan said, smirking and even though it was a tease, Yahiko grinned at her cheesily. 

"You're a great older brother, right Nagato?" Yahiko said, smiling warmly at his friend and Nagato smiled softly and gave a nod. 

From their side, Kabuto tried to see Karin over Nagato's arm, but he was too short. He liked babies, they were oddly calming. And it was even more interesting after he was informed that she could heal people if they bit her. Not that he was going to bite her, that seemed way too animalistic. But it was interesting to hear. 

"So, great leader, where are we headed off to?" Jiraiya asked Orochimaru and Orochimaru seemed to just be realizing that he was leading a group of children and sighed. He was told to go get Tsunade, and he was coming back with a harem. 

"I'm not sure." Orochimaru said, and continued walking. Jiraiya sighed, they were taking Orochimaru's intuition and following that. He wasn't surprised, but still it was a pain not knowing where they were going. 

"Alright, man. I trust you." He said and Orochimaru was thankful for that at least. How else would he become Hokage if not for people believing in his guidance? 

***

The next people that saw Kakashi, were Gai and Hidan. They were both out in their normal spot of the forest training for taijutsu when Kakashi showed up out of nowhere, startling Hidan and making him trip and smack his face on the ground. 

"Hidan!" Gai quickly went to his small pupil and Hidan looked up, pouting slightly with blood coming off his forehead. 

"I'm fine." He said and stood up, brushing his pants off. He looked up at Kakashi and smiled, giving him a thumbs up and Gai almost cried. "See?"

"Oh god, Gai stop training him please." Kakashi begged and Gai was crumpled on the ground, sobbing. 

"Oh no, Gai-sensei, did I do it wrong?" Hidan asked and knelt down, poking his shoulder. "I can try again!"

"No you're so youthful!" Gai said, raising his head with tears streaming down his face. Kakashi wrinkled his nose in disgust and took a step backwards. "Training you is a pleasure as always, young Hidan!" 

"Really?" Hidan smiled proudly and Gai nodded his head vigorously. 

Kakashi looked around for any sight of anyone else and Gai finally stopped praising his new pupil and looked curiously at his friend. Kakashi looked down to see Gai's large eyes fixated on him and sighed. 

"Where is everyone?" He asked and Hidan pointed off in the general direction of the house. 

"Sasori, Mombito and mister Kakuzu are at the house." He answered simply and Kakashi paused and stared at Hidan for longer than he meant to.

"Did you just call him... Mombito?" He asked and Hidan nodded his head innocently.

"Yeah, it's what pretty much everyone calls him. Hidan started it, but now everyone does it to annoy Obito." Gai explained and Kakashi nodded. Now he had a retort to Bakakashi, at least. "It's best when Kakuzu slips up and calls him that. Then he just up and leaves the room for hours." Gai said with a laugh.

The fact that Gai was practiced enough in their daily routine actually bothered Kakashi. As he tried to figure out what Obito was doing behind everyone's back, there Gai was joined in on it. And it was frustrating. 

It was also new though to see Gai so... happy about something. Sure, he was always a cheerful person, but he thrived when he was teaching Hidan, so Kakashi couldn't be too angry about it. Gai was always there when he needed someone to be there for him, so Kakashi pushed down his feelings of jealousy and smiled weakly at the two members of his new group. 

"So, Obito said there were more to join, who are they, do you know?" Kakashi asked and Gai and Hidan both shook their heads. 

"Brat." Hidan perked up hearing Kakuzu's voice. "Let's go. Say goodbye to your girlfriend, we have to train with swords now." Hidan's expression was the purest form of happiness and he clapped. 

"Bye Gai-sensei, bye Bakakashi!" Hidan said quickly. "Thank you for training me today." He gave a bow and turned to see Kakuzu was gone. "Oh! Mister Kakuzu! Wait! You forgot me!" Hidan dashed through the trees and Gai smiled fondly. 

"I feel like we have joint custody over Hidan or something." He mused and Kakashi snorted. 

"Can't believe the little jerk called me Bakakashi." Kakashi said with a frown and Gai grinned.

"It was probably the only name he heard you referred to as." It was probably true, but it still irritated Kakashi more than he cared to admit. 

***

"Your intuition taking us anyone in particular, oh psychic one?" Jiraiya asked dryly and Orochimaru turned around and glared at him. 

"You know, you didn't have to follow me if you didn't want to." He snapped and Kabuto took a step away from the very irate Orochimaru, slightly bumping into Yahiko. 

"Well, my friends just so happened to be going in the general direction, so we figured we'd bother you." Jiraiya said and winked, Orochimaru seethed. 

Walking with Jiraiya was great for a bit, but then he had all the added stress of everyone else in the group. He wasn't used to having so many people follow him and it was really putting a toll on him. 

"Well, wherever my gut brought us, we're here." Orochimaru said and looked at the village ahead. 

"Okay, Nagato, you stay here, I'm going to go inside and scope the place out." Konan said and Nagato pouted on being left out but plopped down in front of a tree and leaned against it. 

"Kabuto, why don't you stay behind as well. I have a feeling I'm going to end up in a bar." Orochimaru said and began walking towards the village and Jiraiya fist pumped the air and followed. Kabuto sighed and sat next to Nagato, happy he was finally able to actually see Karin.

"She's pretty." Kabuto said softly and Nagato smiled at the young boy. 

"Wanna hold her?" He offered and Kabuto looked up, surprised. He gave a slow nod and quickly reached into his backpack to get his sanitizer to clean his hands. He held his hands out and Nagato gently put the baby in his arms and Kabuto couldn't wipe the smile off his face if he tried. She was so tiny, only a few weeks old, it seemed. Karin's eyes opened and she looked at Kabuto for a while, then smiled. 

"Did you see that? She smiled at me!" Kabuto said happily, on the verge of tears and Nagato laughed and played with the tufts of red hair on the top of her head softly. 

"She likes you, it seems, Kabuto. Be nice to her." Kabuto sniffled and nodded his head vigorously. 

"I will! Do you think maybe when she gets older she'll wanna study medical ninjutsu with me too?" Kabuto asked, slightly awed and Nagato gave him a tentative smile and laughed softly.

"That's a very specific goal, but hey, maybe? With a kekkei genkai like hers, I can't imagine her not being in the medical field." Kabuto smiled at that, Nagato was right. She was going to be great one day, and he knew it. 

***

With promises to meet up at the entrance later, Jiraiya and Orochimaru bid farewell to Konan and Nagato. They walked around the village for a while, Jiraiya pestering Orochimaru basically the entire time, until finally he stopped in front of a building. When he looked up, he noticed it wasn't a bar, but a hotel of sorts. He walked inside and looked around the common areas, hoping he wouldn't have to ask around for Tsunade, as he was fairly certain she was there. He couldn't find her though, and if their Hime were smart, she wouldn't have used her real name to check into the hotel and he didn't know what name she went by these days. 

Jiraiya wound up going a different way and Orochimaru rolled his eyes when he saw that the different way was towards the women's locker room. 

In Jiraiya's defense, it wasn't like Tsunade couldn't be in the women's locker room area. Still, Orochimaru had too bad of memories that involved Jiraiya, Tsunade and a female bath house so decided against following him pretty much instantly. 

It was another half an hour before they met up again and Jiraiya shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Orochimaru sighed and nodded, as they began walking towards the exit. But then they stopped, and watched Tsunade walk through the doors. She looked at them with surprise on her face and noticed how close they were standing and tilted her head.

"Did you two finally get together?" And Jiraiya laughed. Hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo man, I'm so excited bc now they can go HOME and I can get KISAME UP IN THIS BITCH. I have been waiting for like a year to get Kisame here (and jfc it really has been like a year, hasn't it? I'm sorry I fail at updating this story lmao I really do love it)
> 
> 1) With the Ame trio meeting Obito soon, how do you think they'll respond? (after getting their memories back)  
> 2) I honestly forgot what I wrote this chapter and I literally just wrote it so there's that... uhh...(whatthefuckhappened) oh shit, Kakashi is a member of the akatsuki, holla holla. I actually got pretty emotional during his speech, how about you?  
> 3) Tsunade dropping FACTS, you know it's real when Tsunade calls your ass out. Who do you think she realized liked who?  
> 4) Kakuzu has another child (Kakuzu, probably: well hidan is a little bastard so I'm taking Deidara now) how many of you have seen my Deliverance doodles on Tumblr? Because I did give Kakuzu and Deidara matching outfits. It was great.
> 
> Speaking of drawing, I think next chapter should be special. I know I have a lot of readers for this fic (I fuckin SEE YALL SUBSCRIBED) and I think I'd like to cash in my one favor (I feel like I deserve this after writing for free to y'all) **EVERYONE. IF YOU KNOW HOW TO HOLD A WRITING IMPLEMENT** : I want as many people as possible to draw smol Hidan in a green jumpsuit and legwarmers. Then if you do, and you have a tumblr, **tag me in that shit** and if that does happen (please please please I'm begging you, it's all I want in my life is to be spammed by this image and tumblr spammed by this image and everyone to be so FUCKING CONFUSED) but yeah, if that does happen, the next chapter I will post everyone's beautiful artwork **and** to sweeten the fuckin deal a bit more, I will write an additional page **per person who draws an image**. That's right. I already write 10 pages of this shit, what's a few more pages? Come on, I know you want to. 
> 
> Anyway, farewell and please! Tag! Me! @smoresiesfanfic on! Tumblr!!!


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